A Demon's Fate
by Modus Operandi of a Mastermind
Summary: There are exceptions to every rule. Dwight and Claudette intend to find them. For Herman and especially Sally, but for everyone else's sake too. Dwight Fairfield/Claudette Morel, Jake Park/Feng Min, Herman Carter/Sally Smithson. David King, Ace Visconti, Philip Ojomo, Laurie Strode, Evan MacMillan, Lisa Sherwood, Freddy Krueger. Cover by cslaywalker.
1. Chapter 1: Dwight

Chapter One: Dwight

It was the pounding headache that woke Dwight some interminable time after his abandonment and subsequent panicked hike towards what he hoped was a road out of here. He'd managed to find water, but not enough to cure what had become a roiling hangover. Dwight settled down for what he intended to be a brief respite but which actually turned into a full blown nap.

It was now nighttime. And his head still hurt.

Dwight vowed to himself that he'd never touch alcohol again. Of course, that wouldn't matter if he didn't find a way out of here. Not that he was going to attempt that in the dark-especially not with this ominous fog rolling in out of nowhere.

Dwight'd had a bad feeling since he woke up alone. He tried to blame it on the situation he found himself in, but as the day progressed Dwight realized it was more than that. It was sheer exhaustion that had made him stop again. Boy, did he regret that now.

There was something wrong with this place. Dwight couldn't quite put his finger on it. He just knew, somehow, that all was not as it should be. The fog only made him more suspicious.

With his mind changed, Dwight got to his feet and fumbled his glasses onto his face. They misted over almost instantly and he rubbed them with quick motions on his shirt before putting them back on. Dwight's heart thundered in his chest but he forced himself to take deep breaths and calm down.

"Focus," he said, into the thick, moist air. It ate his voice and left him in suffocating silence once more.

Dwight shivered. He rubbed his arms as he turned in a circle while trying to get his bearings. A faint bubbling noise penetrated the mist and it occurred to him that the brook he managed to find earlier must still be close by. Dwight headed in that direction. He thanked whatever god was looking out for him that there was a full moon. Dwight kept his steps careful and light and his eyes sharp for animals and tripping hazards. He found the brook and followed it, remembering some half-baked movie idea that water always lead to safety. It was his yellow brick road and he wasn't giving up on it.

Except this wasn't a movie at all and after a while the brook faded away to a quietly trickling nothing.

Almost any other person would have panicked. Instead, Dwight resolved to wait out the night and climb a tree at first light. He scoped out a tall one and settled at its base to wait.

Dwight tried to remain vigilant. He had several more sips of water. He tried pacing when he got tired again but that made him feel even more lost and nervous. Eventually the lure of sleep claimed him and he slipped into fretful dreams.

A flickering behind his eyelids woke him this time. He smiled at the dawn but opened his eyes to find not that but a campfire instead.

"You're new," a voice said.

Dwight sat bolt upright and gaped. It was all he could do with the shock of seeing a woman covered from head to toe in blood.

Dwight scrambled backwards until his back hit a tree. He used this to help him stand.

"What-" he managed. She was covered in blood and yet completely calm, sitting on a log with one leg swinging over the other. He registered her expression as bored and that was enough for him. The surreality of the situation aside, there was no way-

Dwight bolted, explanation be damned. This wasn't going to end well. She was probably a murderer and he her next victim. He thought he heard footsteps behind him, and some kind of clicking noise. Probably a gun, his mind supplied. He ran faster.

Dwight looked behind himself just long enough to smack into something very solid.

He woke up in the clearing again, his head throbbing like it had been all day except now-

Dwight leaped to his feet and almost fell over again at the sight of the same woman. Short black hair in a bun, neon green clothes under all the blood-

He might have run away again but he suspected she would stop him again. He didn't know why she hadn't killed him already, but that thought was of little comfort.

"What do you want?" Dwight already suspected the answer. His hands balled into fists. He would never hit a woman but he wasn't about to lay down and die either.

"For you to chill out," came the flat answer. He noticed that her eyes seemed glassy in the firelight.

"What-"

"Seriously. Chill the hell out or I will leave you on that hook. Which, you know, you're going to end up on. So." He thought he heard her mumble "noob," under her breath.

Dwight licked his lips. "What do you-"

"Just stay out of my way, okay?" As if that explained everything. But Dwight didn't have time to ask another question. The fire roared and he jumped back on instinct. When it died down there was someone else. A burly guy with close-cropped hair.

Also covered in blood.

The guy gave him a once over and scowled, his lip curling. Then he noticed the woman.

"Feng. Thank God. Might've opened my bloody stomach myself if I had to deal with a whole team of 'em this time."

A cold smile crept across Feng's face. "Yeah. Noobs."

"Okay," Dwight said, the word he _definitely_ heard this time unfreezing his tongue. "What the hell is going on here?"

"Got a name, fresh meat?" Burly guy asked, instead of answering.

"Oh, no. No. First thing's first-"

"Forget it, David," Feng said, "As soon as we get a fourth we're going in and this guy's toast." She jerked a thumb at him.

"Yeah, you're right."

The fire blazed again but this time Dwight was ready for it. He saw, materializing out of nowhere, the shape of a third person outlined in embers. She quickly solidified into reality and that was when Dwight knew he was either dreaming or up the creek without a paddle.

He was voting for the latter.

The ambient clicking noises Dwight just realized were a thing increased in volume and he swiveled his head to look up at the sky and caught a glimpse of something nightmarish.

It was gone. He, they, everything was gone before he could finish screaming, and suddenly he was alone in some kind of-

Dwight backed into a gurney and sent it rolling with a crash into the wall. Inexplicably nearby, a crow erupted into agitated flight. All this happened within the space of the second it took Dwight to land on his butt.

He sat there, dazed, his heart pounding. At least, he thought it was his heart. But why was it so _loud_ and-

Dwight heard something, some kind of rough breathing nearby, and that was enough for him. He did the first thing that came to mind and jumped into the locker standing in front of him. The squeak it made was loud and Dwight screwed his eyes shut in the darkness. He could still hear his loud heartbeat and the breathing, it was coming closer.

It wasn't good. This wasn't good. But the breathing was passing by and he almost, almost felt safe for a second.

Until he wasn't.

The door slammed open and there was this _thing_ , this monstrosity, and it grabbed him by the throat.

Dwight couldn't breathe. The thing lifted him off his feet with one arm. It slung him over its shoulder and Dwight flopped against its back, winded. Then his mind began to work again and whatever this was, he didn't have to be told to struggle.

It was harder than it seemed. The thing breathed heavy into its mask as it walked. Dwight was repulsed by the metal sticking out of its flesh but he didn't let that stop him. He grabbed it to try to get some kind of leverage and the creature stiffened.

Dwight felt relieved up until the moment it lifted him.

Pain, unlike anything he had ever experienced before, exploded through his shoulder, as the meat hook pierced him from behind.

He screamed, spit blood on the white mask in front of him, and went limp with shock.

Dimly, Dwight remembered Feng's dire proclamation.

With his world narrowed to the agony in his shoulder, it was hard to tell how much time passed. But gradually Dwight became aware of some changes occurring around him. There was something growing around him and it looked awfully familiar. It was this, more than anything else, that made him clench his teeth against the pain and try to get himself off the hook.

It didn't work.

Dwight tried again, facing the uncomfortable, creeping thought that the changes seemed to be accelerating around him.

When Dwight failed once more, he found himself under attack. His hands flew up as the nightmarish spider leg slash tree limb aimed for his heart. It was rough under his hands, and strong. Too strong. And he was badly injured and it hurt. Dwight knew he wouldn't be able to keep this up for long.

As he was struggling against the thing, he noticed he could see other people. But in a weird way. It wasn't like he was really seeing them but maybe their auras. Hope flared like a bright spark in his chest and he fought harder, even managed to push the branch thing a little further from his chest.

But then Dwight noticed that, whatever they were doing, nobody was coming for him. Hope turned to ash on his tongue. His hands slipped for a moment and he heard more than felt the sickening crunch of his own flesh and bones as the monstrous limbs impaled him.

For a second everything shone brighter than he thought possible. He heard whispers. Something slithered in his chest and ripped away a little piece of him. After that, there was only darkness and pain. Endless pain.

And, Dwight realized, the campfire.

He spun in a circle. Alone. His hands fumbled down his chest. No blood. No gaping holes. Dwight remembered how to breathe. He sank down to his knees.

Had it all been a dream? It felt so real but, it couldn't be. Could it?

Dwight's fingers curled in the dirt. This was real. Solid.

What was that _thing_?

Some intuition, he'd call it a chill down his spine, made him look up.

And there it was again, the stuff of nightmares barely glimpsed. But real. And that meant-

Dwight was dead. Or he had died, maybe even before coming to the campfire in the first place.

He looked away from the leviathan above him.

Dwight didn't suffer panic attacks. He was made of tougher stuff than that. But this was really...something else.

He closed his eyes and shoved his glasses up, pressing the heels of his palms into his eyes.

"Think."

"About what?" came the almost instantaneous reply.

Dwight's head jerked up. He caught sight of a raggedy looking guy with longish shaggy hair standing by the campfire. They regarded each other in silence for a few moments, Dwight speaking only when he realized the other man wasn't going to break it.

"What is this place?"

Raggedy guy stepped away from the fire and was doing a pretty good job of blending into the shadows so it was hard to tell, but Dwight thought he was sizing him up.

"The woods," he said, simply. Dwight was about to open his mouth to ask if everyone here was this impossible before the guy went on. "With a few…" He waved his hand around. "...extras."

"Yeah, I-" Dwight swallowed and looked up before averting his eyes again. "noticed."

Silence descended once more while Dwight tried to think of what to ask next since this guy was clearly not going to elaborate.

"What is that thing?" he said, finally.

"It doesn't have a name," raggedy guy replied. And that was totally not what Dwight asked, but he filed the information away anyway. "We call it The Entity."

"The Entity?"

Silence.

"Is it what's keeping us from-"

"Leaving? Yeah."

Dwight sighed. He hadn't tried to run away again and now he was glad for it.

"Has anyone, ever…"

"No."

"Right." Dwight found a log and sat down on it to think. He could hear The Entity making its strange noises high above him and wished he couldn't. The only other sound was the crackling of the fire. He felt the other man's eyes on him, too.

"Do you have a name?" he said, at length.

"Jake."

Dwight thought Jake's voice sounded rough and he wondered if he was accustomed to using it. He introduced himself but Jake didn't say anything else. It turned out there wasn't time as first one and then two human shapes materialized out of the fire and-this time-Dwight felt a little jerk behind his navel before he was alone again.

Dwight stood still as his mind struggled to accept the fact he was now in the middle of a corn field. He whooshed out a breath and crouched down in between the plants. He didn't know what was going on, still, or if this would be the same or different as last time.

Dwight shuddered at the memory. He cast his gaze wide and caught sight of a house in the distance. He wondered if it was too much to hope they were friendly. With a working phone.

It seemed unlikely.

 _Think_ , he told himself.

And just when he almost had an idea of what to do next, he saw and felt some kind of electrical current zinging up his legs.

Dwight screamed.

He didn't mean to. He just-

His heartbeat was growing louder and he thought he knew what _that_ meant now.

Dwight bolted towards the house, screaming periodically on the way. He passed by a locker but knew better this time than to jump in it. As he rounded the steps, he caught sight of a new and different horror following him. It didn't have a mask on but Dwight almost wished it did. The face was hideous, with its eyelids peeled back, and it was carrying an electric baton or something equally bad.

Dwight kept running. Electricity zapped him again and he screamed. This time he heard the creature behind him laughing.

There was no time to look for a phone. Besides, the downstairs looked pretty shabby and empty. He kept going through the house and out the other side where he hid by the stairs.

Maybe, just maybe the thing would pass him by. Then he could go back inside and-

Dwight slammed into the side of the house as the heavy blow connected with his back. His mouth opened in a silent scream and he felt the hot spray of his own blood against the side of his face. For a stunned second he stood still until both fear and adrenaline spurred him forward. He grabbed his shoulder and ran through a gap in the ragged fence.

Dwight didn't turn around but he could all but feel the madman's hot breath on his neck. He twisted at the next juncture and slammed a pallet down behind him before bolting back into the corn.

Dwight ran through the field until he found trees and by then the adrenaline was wearing off and the pain setting more firmly in. He hid behind a tree and slumped against it, teeth ground together against the pain. Images of the monstrous man plagued him as well as the sensation of static aftershock. He hunched over, trying to get a grip on himself.

That was when he noticed the unfamiliar woman crouched in the grass near him. He opened his mouth to scream but she clapped a hand against it.

"Shh," she said, simply. "Quiet."

Dwight nodded that he understood and she motioned for him to follow. He let her lead him behind some kind of ridiculous piece of broken building that seemed completely out of place on a farm.

"Kneel down," she said, and there was an impatient edge to her voice that brooked no disagreement. Dwight and his heavily protesting shoulder obeyed. He was soon glad, for her cool hands roved over his wounded flesh, packing it with something that felt soothing and then twisting bandages around his still limp arm. He felt revitalized somehow, as if it had never happened. Dwight stood and flexed his arm. There was no pain. It shouldn't have been possible, but he was learning not to question everything.

"Thank you," he said, but she was already gone. Dwight looked around for her, but given how easily she blended into the shadows before, he wasn't entirely disappointed not to find her. Dwight glanced down at his own clothes and sighed at his white shirt. Well, off-white, but that wasn't much better. He felt exposed, suddenly. Naked. Dwight shivered. He didn't want to move from his position between walls, but something told him things would only get worse if he lingered.

Dwight skulked back over to the group of trees and crouched down in the grass. He needed a plan, but before he could begin to think of one things suddenly got a whole lot brighter. Dwight saw, shining like an impossible beacon, the image of some kind of machinery on the other side of the house. He blinked twice, rubbed his eyes, but it was still there.

Dwight waffled on whether he should approach before having his mind decided for him by the horrible, electric noises coming from that direction. He suppressed a shudder and took off the opposite way. While running, he saw another apparition out of the corner of his eye. Another bright spot, and then one more, appeared. Impossibly, he could make out every working part of what he assumed was a generator in each case.

Dwight shied away from them all. He headed back into the corn, following the sounds of something being repaired, and almost ran into the woman from before. She had her hands buried in the mechanical guts of another generator. The woman spared him a glance and gestured for him to watch. He crouched down behind her and observed the way she reconnected wires and replaced broken or missing nuts and bolts.

"One more," she said, and Dwight thought he understood. Then, "get ready to run."

The words were barely out of her mouth before the generator gave a cough and hummed to life. Their shadowy little corner was suddenly full of light. Dwight would have frozen without her instruction but instead he caught a glimpse of her retreating back and followed it.

His heartbeat was louder now, and Dwight thought he knew what that meant, too. He'd caught up to the woman, though, and she held open a locker door for him and beckoned. Dwight didn't think it was a good idea, but she seemed to know what she was doing and she _had_ saved his life before.

It was the static jumping around his feet that made his mind up for him. He got in and she shut the door. Which somehow helped against the electricity.

Dwight heard the sound of running feet, followed by screaming and laughter that was altogether too familiar. He slowed his breathing and clutched at his healed shoulder. Then, suddenly, he heard a very different sort of scream and knew the woman had been wounded. But the sounds were all receding so it was impossible to tell for sure.

Dwight peeked his head out of the locker. The first thing he saw was the blood on the ground. It trailed back into the corn. He felt sick. She had gotten hurt because of him. He needed to help her, but how? He had no idea where they were and only a vague notion of what to do if he found her.

He took a step forward but something very odd stopped him. Another generator lit up and he heard a different noise, too. Dwight looked behind him and found that there was some kind of gate in the wall with an illuminated lever beside it.

Dwight didn't have to be told to pull it. However, he was surprised at how much noise it made and how long it took to open. Dwight looked through the open door in question and saw the campfire in the distance. Safety, then. But he couldn't leave the person who had helped him. Not just yet. He didn't know if she was still in trouble or how to save her but was spared by her sudden reappearance. She crept out of the shadows, completely whole, and Dwight wondered if he had imagined her screams.

The briefest flicker of a smile passed over her features and Dwight felt something clench in his chest. He smiled back just as swiftly. Then she beckoned him and they both crept toward the campfire.

She stopped him at a certain point, though.

"Wait." It seemed to be a struggle for her to get that one word out. She didn't meet his eyes. "We have a minute and...you're new."

Dwight's eyes widened at the unspoken question and the implications it presented.

Finally, he thought, _finally_.

If possible, he liked her even more.

"Yeah, I'm- My name is Dwight and...I think I died, at least once."

She nodded her head, but still didn't meet his eyes. He wondered if she ever would, or if she was shy, or what exactly her deal was. He wasn't going to pry though, not after all she had done for him.

"I'm Claudette," she said, finally.

Claudette told him everything he needed to know in few words and the halting language he was coming to associate with her: that there was no real escape, only an endless cycle of pain and death perpetuated by people who had once been just like them. That there were no reprieves save for moments like this and that they would be sent in again in a matter of minutes, an hour at most. That they were all losing their souls, bit by bit, and eventually would become that which they feared most.

It was a lot to take in and she seemed to know it.

"I'm sorry," Claudette said, and this time she did meet his eyes if only briefly. Her gaze was haunted, but he caught determination and compassion in there too. So different from the others he had met thus far.

"No, it's-" _Not your fault_. Dimly, he registered the fact that she was also covered in blood and wondered why he hadn't noticed before. Then came the sound of the heartbeat but this time Dwight wasn't afraid so he knew it wasn't his. The monster-The Doctor, Claudette informed him-appeared at the entrance but didn't come any closer. Just stared.

Then The Doctor raised its fist and-

Dwight grabbed Claudette's hand and bolted, dragging her behind him despite her words of protest.

He had never really fit in anywhere and always been ridiculed for his differences. He'd always had to _endure_. It was this quality he called on now. Dwight never considered himself a leader but he wanted to be one now. For her. For all of them. Because someone needed to get them out of this nightmare and while he didn't know much right now he was certain there had to be a way.

Dwight made a vow to find it or-more likely, he acknowledged-lose his soul trying. He could already feel the weight of the impossible odds but he knew he wouldn't give up either. It wasn't in his nature.

Dwight was, and had always been, a survivor.


	2. Chapter 2: Claudette

Chapter Two: Claudette

Claudette died four times. The first was to The Nightmare. The next two were because of The Shape. Finally, The Wraith killed her.

There was a recurring trend amidst all of these: nobody ever helped her. She could see them when she swung from the hook but her fellows never came to her rescue.

Claudette knew enough to struggle the fifth time she got on the hook. She did so twice and was about to try for the third time when she noticed a shape beneath her in the grass. Claudette wondered if this was a hallucination brought on by the pain, but she was actually getting kind of used to that by now so it shouldn't be-

The shape moved, revealing itself to indeed be a person. Warm hands lifted her and she was free for the first time.

"Come on. Follow me." The woman was much older than her, with dishwater blonde hair and pale blue eyes. She was dressed in a pair of dark green scrubs that were covered in blood and dirt and generally looked like they had seen better days.

Claudette bit her lip and nodded. She clutched her shoulder and limped after the stranger. The woman led her behind some sycamore trees and began to work on her shoulder.

Claudette shouldn't have been surprised by the gentle treatment or the fact that it completely healed her. Not after the impossible feat of dying more than once.

"Why did you help me?" she asked, once she gathered her courage. Her voice was still hoarse from screaming and she swallowed, looked down at the Kentucky bluegrass under their feet. The woman's shoes matched her outfit, she noticed.

That was how the stranger was able to take Claudette's hand-she would have shied away if she saw it coming. "I know it's scary, but we need to be there for one another." She gave Claudette's hand a pat. "I've seen a lot here and...before…" Her voice sounded far away for a moment. "Even if it wasn't in my nature to want to help people I would still do it. Otherwise, we'll all lose and nobody...nobody will ever get out of this mess."

Claudette glanced up in time to see the kind smile on the woman's face. She nodded, once, in understanding, but the woman didn't take her hand away and Claudette couldn't find it in her to protest.

It felt...nice, somehow.

They made it out of there and for the first time Claudette lived. She got to run to safety and learn the woman's name.

Sally told her all about the different killers and explained that they were victims in this whole thing too. "They used to be just like us. I knew-I mean, Herman, even he...changed." She didn't say much after that but Claudette could guess what she meant.

From then on, Claudette looked at things differently. She no longer abhorred the monsters that killed them now that she knew they had once been all too human. Of course, she was still afraid of them and what they could do to her but she didn't let the fear stop her anymore.

Claudette's educational background and shy nature helped her now more than ever. Despite the accolades she received for her genius at work, Claudette never liked being the center of attention. She would much rather be out in the field among the plants she so adored. Of course, she enjoyed sharing the joy of botany with others-but only online. Never in person. The consummate wallflower, she would rather melt away into the shadows and observe.

When Claudette thought about it now, she felt privileged. It was as if she had been preparing for this challenge her whole life. Because that's what The Entity was: just another enigma to be unravelled. And if she had to work with other people to do it, then so be it. No, in fact, it was because of them that she was going to try so hard to foil The Entity. Nobody she'd met had the same kind of training. It was up to her to save them all.

The weight on Claudette's shoulders was heavy, but she could bear it. She just hoped she could meet her goal before her time ran out, _if_ it ran out. She still had hope and had to remind herself of that sometimes. If some part of her slipped away every time she died, then she would have to ensure she lived _every_ time until the mystery was solved.

However, Claudette vowed she wouldn't survive at the expense of other people's lives. If Sally was right and The Entity fed on their hope, the very thing that made them human, then it was especially important to keep her humanity The surest way to lose it, the way that _most_ people were whittling it away, was to leave another human being to die. Claudette would not do that, even if it ended up costing her own life.

With her priorities straight, Claudette ventured to learn all she could about The Entity and its killers in subsequent bouts. She told Sally of her discoveries whenever they ended up together. The older woman would always smile kindly and thank her, offer Claudette her medical services. Sally made a passable enough assistant despite her lack of education. More importantly, Sally could put up with Claudette and her long silences and inability to meet Sally's gaze. Not many people understood Claudette and her almost crippling social anxieties, and to find one here, of all places, felt a little too serendipitous. If one believed in such things, that was. It made Claudette nervous, like she was waiting for the other shoe to drop.

Claudette and Sally numbered their murderers and began to put together a dossier on each one and their abilities and characteristics. The Entity didn't seem to mind them pilfering corn husks and fluff and turning it into paper. Nor did it miss a few charcoal burned sticks. Claudette reasoned that it either didn't understand what they were doing or did not view them as a threat. She would take it. Claudette was used to being underestimated.

They were starting to make a name for themselves, though. Escaping dozens and dozens of times in a row did that. Claudette shied away from all the attention and let Sally take the brunt of it. Sally was good with people. It was part of her job in another life and it seemed the trials she'd been through only honed it. The good part of all this was that they were finally getting through to their compatriots.

Sally didn't mind using a cliche. "One for all, and all for one," she would say at campfire gatherings.

Things were going really well.

Until they weren't.

Claudette tried many times to pinpoint when it all started to go wrong. In the end, she decided that The Entity simply wasn't happy with its returns. She imagined it took a lot of energy to put on these elaborate events and with most people living The Entity wasn't really getting anything out of it.

It started small: one round where no chests appeared. Then that became a regular thing. They ran out of healing supplies before they knew it, but they developed new tactics and made do. Claudette told herself that this would pass.

Then Sally disappeared.

It wasn't unusual not to see her for a round or three, but they always ended up together again. Not so, anymore.

Claudette tried her best, tried to rally people like Sally would but she wasn't and would never be Sally. And there were _so many_ new people.

It seemed she and Sally were all but forgotten almost immediately and people started dying in droves again. The chests returned, though, and confirmed Claudette's hypothesis. A small victory but a victory nonetheless.

Claudette had always been a strong person in her own way. Now, her mission kept her occupied, gave her hope. Until, one-hundred and seventy two matches later, she finally saw Sally again.

Claudette could never be sure what gave it away. She didn't have a face, after all. But there was something familiar in the way The Nurse breathed and the way she moved, the way she lovingly put Claudette back up on the hook she'd first taken her down from so long ago.

Claudette died and their notebook vanished into The Entity's maw. Because it knew now. It had gotten to Sally and _it knew their plans_.


	3. Chapter 3: Dwight

Chapter Three: Dwight

Dwight's only comfort at being back in these spooky woods was the fact he knew Claudette was with him somewhere.

It almost made up for Feng, who had given him an evil little smirk and said, "told you so, noob," when she appeared by the campfire. Dwight knew she wouldn't be sticking her neck out for him. He tried not to take that personally and told himself she was just really scrappy and abrasive in general.

Dwight kept to the shadows, staying well clear of the two story building in the center of the forest. It didn't seem safe and he wasn't about to chance it. He didn't want Claudette (or anyone else, even Feng) to get hurt because of him.

Dwight knew what to expect now and he told himself he would be better at this.

That was until he crept over to his first generator and it exploded under his touch. Claudette warned him about this but it was something else to have it happen to him.

Dwight fell on his butt before scrambling to his feet and running away. If that didn't alert the killer to his presence, he didn't know what would. He slumped down into the grass behind a tree when he felt he'd run far enough and tried to catch his breath. It took a minute. Dwight looked around in the meantime to make sure the killer wasn't sneaking up on him. He didn't see anything and there was no loud heartbeat so he judged things safe enough to review what happened.

After some thought, Dwight determined that the grey and blue wire combination was probably a bad idea. Now he just needed to get back to the generator to test his theory.

It was easier than Dwight thought to creep through the tall grass and trees to the machine. He ran the last couple of feet, reached out for the generator, and screamed as the trap snapped shut on his leg. Dwight felt the metal teeth pierce his flesh, felt them scrape against his very bones.

He all but fell forward, limp and in agony. Which only put more pressure on his injured leg. Dwight's hands fluttered uselessly at the metal. He cried out again, he couldn't help it. Panic and his own slick blood made his fingers slow and clumsy but he tried to get the trap open anyway. And tried again. And again.

Dwight's heart pounded in his chest but he knew now that that wasn't what he was hearing. He closed his eyes, gritted his teeth, and tried once more.

The trap unsnapped and for a second he felt a relief so palpable that it froze him. Then his sense of self-preservation kicked in and he was on his feet. Dwight's injured leg felt like one big throbbing nerve and he couldn't help the little noises of pain that escaped his lips as he limped away.

The heartbeat was louder now and, worse, he could hear it _breathing_. Dwight turned and saw the familiar face of the first monster to kill him. It was closing in fast. He found a small burst of energy and surged ahead for a little while, but it only left him feeling more exhausted and in pain. Dwight tried to lose the thing behind trees and around crates but it didn't matter. The blow came hard from behind and he collapsed to the ground right next to the pallet that would have saved him.

The pain was incredible. Worse, in some ways, than being on the hook. All Dwight could do was lay there and moan. He felt sure he would have already bled out under normal conditions. He couldn't even resist when the creature picked him up. He was doomed. He was-

On his feet again? Dwight heard a loud bang and the monster groaning before it dropped him. This startled him and he might have just stood there if he didn't hear Claudette screaming, "run!"

Run, Dwight did. Harder and faster than he ever had in his life. Because he knew he'd gotten lucky, that Claudette had put her life at risk for his again, and he wasn't about to let her sacrifice go to waste.

It seemed to go on and on, the fear, his pounding footsteps, but eventually Dwight realized he wasn't being chased. He slumped to his knees in the grass, blood still pooling around him. His limbs were shaking. Dwight lost track of time, of anything but the cadence of his heartbeat.

When next his eyes lifted, he saw the latest stranger from the campfire. This was an older man with what seemed to be a perpetual grin plastered on his face. Probably too much to hope that he would be a decent human being. Dwight cast his eyes down again. The guy approached anyway and began working on his shoulder and then his leg when that was done.

"Why?" Dwight felt upended, his world tilted sideways. It wasn't a bad thing.

"Eh," the guy said, and laughed. "You seemed worth the risk. Now c'mon and follow me."

Dwight's pants were dry and blood free, he noticed. Something to puzzle over later. He crept after the stranger while watching the ground for traps. Dwight never wanted to experience that particular torment again.

The older man led him to a generator and he motioned for Dwight to join him in fixing it. Dwight got the wire combination right this time and felt a little better about himself. Unlike what most people said, he wasn't hopeless. He knew that. Sometimes it was just hard to remember his strengths with all the negativity constantly directed at him.

"Whoa, hey," the guy said, after a minute. "This's going quick. Are you some kind of expert?"

Dwight wanted to laugh at that but actually the repairs did seem to be clipping along. Hope rose like adrenaline in him and he smiled. "Nah, we just make a good team."

Even when Dwight did receive compliments, he always felt uncomfortable accepting them.

The guy grinned and stuck out his hand. Dwight carefully pulled away from the generator and took it.

"My name's Ace. Ace Visconti. It's good to meet you."

"Yeah, the circumstances could be better though," Dwight said, his eyebrows raised. He gave Ace his name too, of course.

Ace laughed. "You got me there."

The guy had a certain kind of charm plus confidence in spades. Dwight decided he liked him too.

Across the field, he saw first one generator and then another burst to life.

"How many?"

"We're almost done with this one, so…" Ace looked up, then down. "One."

Dwight's eyebrows raised again. "You sure about that?"

"Yeah," Ace said, as he wiped his sweating forehead with his cap. "Feng's great on a genny."

Dwight's mood soured a little bit at the name. He was glad, though, and decided Feng probably got one up and running during his ordeal with the killer.

A few more twists of the wrench and both he and Ace were running away from their own repaired generator. Just in time, too. Dwight saw The Trapper, as Ace called it, heading toward the machine. It whacked the generator with its rusty blade, but nothing happened.

They crouched down behind some wooden slats and held their collective breath. The creature looked hard for them, but they kept obstacles between it and them. Eventually, Dwight heard it putting down a trap. Then it left.

He noticed they were right next to a door, but knew that wouldn't open until someone fixed the last generator.

"Should we-"

"Nah," Ace said, anticipating his question. "We're all getting out of here this time, I can feel it. Besides, I know Feng's almost done with the last one by now."

Dwight nodded and kept a lookout for either The Trapper or the last generator. It was quiet enough that he could hear the strange howling noises that sometimes echoed in from beyond the perimeter walls. Dwight shuddered.

"How long have you been here?" Anything to distract from the terrible ambiance. Plus, Claudette had all but told him to gather information wherever he could. He wasn't sure exactly what she wanted but he had to start somewhere.

"Tough to say. About three to four hundred of these, maybe? I'm losing track." Ace gave him a crooked smile tinged with bitterness. It was the first really serious emotion Dwight detected from him. He would have to think about that later because right now he was all but hyperventilating.

"Three to four hundred?" Dwight's stomach tied itself in knots and he felt all the blood drain from his face.

Ace smacked him on the back and he coughed in surprise.

"Hey, chin up. It isn't the end of the world."

Except it was, it was and he didn't know how Ace could stay so _positive_ about it when he'd already been through so much.

"Lady luck is on my side, you know." At that moment the last generator fired up across the map and Dwight could almost believe him.

Ace ran to open the handle, then stopped short. He gave Dwight that shit-eating grin and reached down to disarm a trap. Dwight hadn't even seen it. His eyes bugged out as it snapped shut on empty air. Then Ace pulled the handle down and the door began its excruciatingly slow power up.

"Hey," Ace said, after a few seconds. "He's coming this way. Can you stand behind me and take a hit?"

Dwight swallowed hard before nodding. It seemed like a terrible idea but Ace and his stupid bloody shirt was probably right. He'd been around a lot longer than Dwight and he, like Claudette, had saved Dwight's life.

Dwight stood behind Ace and steeled himself.

The seconds ticked by and there was still nothing but Dwight remained tense.

Then Ace laughed. "Just kidding. But, no, seriously, you'd have done great, Dwight."

He glared. Ace couldn't know how close that one hit to home.

"Thanks a lot." Dwight's voice was full of sarcasm, which was more than he would have allowed himself normally. But he wasn't the same person anymore. This place had already changed him for the better, given him a backbone. He supposed he ought to be grateful for that, at least. And he would be. When he escaped for real. Dwight was so done with people treating him like crap. He'd make a new start. New friends, fresh life. The thought perked him up a little bit.

Ace clapped him on the back again after he finished opening the door.

"Sorry. I kid around too much. It's just, we've all got to find ways to stay positive, you know? This place, it takes a lot out of a man." Ace even had the grace to look sheepish. Some of the tension left Dwight's shoulders and he rolled his eyes.

"Yeah, well that was a horrible joke," Dwight said, as they headed through the opening. "But I guess I can let you make it up to me by answering a few questions."

He and Ace stopped by the edge of the wall. "Shoot," he said, giving a little bow.

Claudette stepped out of the shadows and both Dwight and Ace started.

"One of these days you're going to give this old man a heart attack," Ace said, his hand on his chest.

Claudette didn't say anything but Dwight saw a small smile on her face as she hugged the wall. "It's coming," she whispered.

"Right." Ace looked around. "Where's Feng?"

Dwight thought she was probably opening the other exit for the thrill of it if nothing else.

"The hatch." Claudette's expression was neutral, as usual.

"Heh, what the heck." Ace waved them on. "I swear, that girl likes a challenge." Dwight heard the praise in his tone and sucked in a breath, his lips forming a tight line across his face. He didn't say anything though.

All three ended up back at the same campfire.

"See? What did I tell you. We all made it." Ace sat down on a log and swung one long leg over the other. "Piece of cake."

"Maybe for _you_ ," Dwight said, but there was no real venom in his tone.

"Ah, buddy, don't worry. We've all been there." _You'll get better_ was left unsaid, but Dwight could feel it hanging in the air. He smiled a little, feeling grateful that his first impression of Ace hadn't been wrong.

"So, questions," Dwight said, instead of dwelling on that. It was too soon to trust, but he could always hope.

It was easier since Claudette was there to help him lead the conversation where he thought she wanted it to go. Ace told them all about his experiences and from the look on Claudette's face she was committing his words to memory. She seemed especially interested in The Nurse for reasons that soon became clear.

"Her ability...teleporting…" Claudette said, haltingly.

Dwight caught on and saved her from having to say the rest. "You think that could be our ticket out of here?"

Claudette nodded.

"Well, I'll be." Even Ace looked impressed. "I never even thought of it like that." Dwight caught a hint of a Spanish accent in the man's voice but then it was gone.

"How would we go about something like that?"

Claudette seemed to go through some kind of internal struggle based on her twitching mouth, but then she very quietly produced a sheaf of paper from inside her jacket. She pulled out several pages from the middle and smoothed them out.

"Her name is Sally."

"You think she's still in there somewhere, don't you?" Dwight said, after a pause.

Claudette nodded. She handed the crude papers over to him.

"Hold on." Ace pulled out a pair of sunglasses and fingered them, snapping the shades open and closed. "This is the first I've heard about something like this. So, you're saying that these monsters used to be _human_?" He brought the sunglasses to his mouth and sucked on one of the arms after tapping it on his lips a few times. "You know, that actually makes sense. There've been a few times I wondered how they outsmarted me..."

Dwight was hardly listening. He read over the detailed information Claudette had on The Nur-on Sally, feeling like something was lodged in his chest.

It was an achingly familiar story.

Dwight resisted the urge to crumple the papers and instead returned them to Claudette when he was done.

"How do you know? How can you be so _sure_?" Claudette took very good notes but it still didn't make sense, or rather, it was too shocking a proposition to comprehend.

"Ten-thousand rounds." Her words were so quiet and soft that it took a second for them to sink in. Dwight blanched when they did.

"Holy-" Ace's expletive was cut off by their final teammate appearing out of the flames.

Dwight had time to think, _here we go again_ , before he was alone on the top floor of someone's house. Both the transition and Claudette's revelation had him shaking. It felt like a long time before he was able to move.

Dwight peered out the window at this newest arena. It looked like any peaceful suburb outside except for the cop car. Dwight wondered if it was too much to hope for that the vehicle worked and decided he wasn't that lucky. Maybe Ace, but not him.

Still, it was worth a shot.

Dwight scoped out the street for a minute longer but didn't see any sign of the killer. He crept downstairs and out the back of the house. It wouldn't do to be too direct, after all. The walls were closer here than in the other places he'd been and both this and the creepy howling noises dispelled the illusion of normalcy. Whatever The Entity was, it certainly didn't get everything right. Not even close.

Dwight kept to the shadows and hugged the wall. He'd learned by now not to mess with the local wildlife. Every time he saw a bird, he crouched down and creeped past, hoping he didn't startle it. This usually worked. Not always, but most of the time. Thankfully, the same was true now and Dwight made it to the other end of the arena without incident.

He still hadn't seen any sign of the killer but he didn't think it was The Trapper because he didn't see any of its-his, Dwight supposed-equipment around. Thank God. Dwight still kept an eye on his feet though, and would until he was absolutely sure.

He peered around some hedges and into the eerily silent street. _So far, so good_ , Dwight told himself as he crept toward the flashing lights. He checked the door of the vehicle when he made it over. It was unlocked.

Dwight opened the door and winced as it squeaked. He slipped inside and shut it, letting out a shaky breath. The keys were in the ignition. Dwight wiped his sweaty palms on his pants.

Then it occurred to him that even if it did turn over there was nowhere to go. And even if he did somehow manage to plow through the closed gate, what then?

Dwight felt really stupid. He let out a short bark of a laugh, thinking of his coworkers and how they'd ridicule him for this if they only knew.

The face in the rearview mirror distracted him from these bleak thoughts. Dwight opened his mouth to say something that would probably end up being trite, but closed it a second later. There was something weird about the man's features.

That's when the knife stabbed through the driver's seat and impaled Dwight.

He stuttered out a gasp, his eyes widening in shock. The pain hit him a second later with the first warm spurt of his blood down the front of his shirt. He dipped the tips of his fingers in it and stared. Then with a harsh jerk the monster in the backseat pulled the blade out of him.

Dwight would have screamed but he'd been through so much already. Instead, he fumbled with bloody hands for the door handle and fell onto the asphalt in an ungainly heap. Dwight heard the back door opening as he scrambled to his feet. He didn't bother to look back as he took off running, one hand wrapped protectively around his middle. Harsh gasps fell from his lips as he dashed into the house.

Dwight could hear the distinct noise of generators being lit up across the arena, but no heartbeat. There hadn't been any real warning, and that was the thing. He felt completely off balance with the knowledge of how much he'd come to rely upon The Entity to inform him of something important like that. It was ridiculous. He was ridiculous.

Dwight wrapped a bloody hand around the bannister and used this to propel himself up the stairs. He looked behind him not knowing what to expect. The monster wasn't there, but that didn't mean anything anymore.

Dwight thundered up the stairs but he knew, he _knew_ that wouldn't be good enough to lose the thing. He ran through the upstairs and out onto an odd sort of balcony, breath heaving in his throat. Dwight saw the creature mounting the stairs behind him and did the only thing he could.

He jumped.

The impact jarred him for precious seconds before he was running again. Dwight dashed around a hedge and into another house where he stopped and then crept back out a window.

Dwight headed across the street. The police car was there with flashing lights, only now it made him ill to look at it and remember his mistake. Still, he used it as cover, biting down on his hand to keep from groaning with the pain. Adrenaline kept him alert but he could already feel the cramp in his calf. His stomach was tight and he felt lightheaded.

The mockery of a man emerged from the second house and looked down the street each way before zeroing in on him.

Dwight didn't realize he was made at first. The thing was just staring at him. That was it. But there was an eager creepiness to its body language and this was what set him off running again. Dwight didn't like those eyes on him and he did everything he could to put obstacles in between him and the monster.

Another generator went up and Dwight knew there had to be only one or two left now, but the creature didn't seem to care. It kept following him, and now, Dwight realized, it had a little bit of a heartbeat.

He didn't like _that_ , either.

Dwight repeated his tactic of running upstairs and this time hid beside the open door, hoping against all hope that the monster would pass him by.

It did, walked right off the balcony without so much as a glance in his direction.

Dwight didn't know why that worked. He didn't care at the moment. Right now, his only concern lay in the knowledge it would return once it realized it had been tricked. Dwight didn't want to be there when that happened.

He bolted down the stairs and out the front door. He crossed the street and kept going until he ended up in a garage. There he allowed himself to collapse against another not-car and catch his breath.

Dwight's chest ached something fierce now that the adrenaline was ebbing. His limbs felt shaky and the cramp in his calf was back full force.

It was things like this that defeated most people, he thought. But he was different. Or trying to be.

Dwight got to his feet and headed for the back wall. He knew it wasn't safe but then again nothing was ever safe here.

It didn't take him long to find the gate. He crouched in the grass, holding his bleeding chest tight, and sending a silent prayer of supplication to whoever was listening that somebody would finish the last generator soon.

They did, right nearby.

Dwight went for the handle anyway. He thought he could sense eyes on him but didn't hear or see anything. That was until he heard the rough breathing coming from behind a nearby tree.

The lights above the handle indicated the gate was almost ready to open. Dwight kept his hand on it while staring the monster down as some weird, defiant spark within dictated he do.

The gate squealed open just as the monster raised its knife.

Dwight jerked to the side, hearing the blade hit the metal of the switch.

He ran.

It was cowardly not to wait for the others, he knew. But he didn't care. This was a different sort of creature than he had faced before and he didn't want to spend a second longer around it.

Dwight collapsed back at the campfire despite being fully healed. He stared at his clean hands and-

Sobbed.

Dwight didn't know how much time passed before he heard the campfire flare, felt Claudette's hesitant yet still comforting hand on his back.

"I'm sorry," she said, like all of this was her fault.

He shook his head, wiping a hand under his glasses to get rid of the last of his tears. "It's just…" Dwight didn't know how to explain that it wasn't only this moment, or situation they were in, that it was his _whole life_ that was wrong _._ That his failure here had been the final straw in the cascading mountain of his fears and anxieties. That he'd had enough of himself.

The fact it had taken such a surreal situation to wake Dwight up to all the awfulness in his life was pathetic too. He'd been coasting along in his own little dreamworld for far too long, he knew. His awakening started with Sally, with how terrible her life had been and now, her fate that was worse than death. She had become nothing more than an instrument of destruction. A slave to The Entity. He didn't want that, didn't want to be-

"Can I see your notes again?" He was quieting now, the sheer, raw, despair he felt fading around the edges. "Please."

There was far too much empathy in Claudette's eyes as she handed them over.

Dwight swallowed his pain and sat down to read.


	4. Chapter 4: Jake

Chapter Four: Jake

Jake watched Claudette, Dwight, and Ace from the shadows before fading back into the woods. He was more comfortable away from the campfire than by it. Sure, the warmth was nice, but he'd rather not have the company. People tended to ask him questions and he rarely felt obliged to answer. It made things...difficult.

No, it was better not to get too attached. Forming bonds with the people here tended to get one targeted or killed.

Jake performed ably enough in trials so they usually left him alone. Those people that knew him, anyway. But there was a new one here now and he'd already coerced some dialogue out of Jake after Jake's rare attempt at humor. A mistake, he supposed, that he'd have to live with now.

Jake would have stayed and gotten the chill out of his bones if it had just been Claudette. She was about the only one who might just understand his unwillingness to be social.

Jake sat down with his back against a large cypress tree and stared at the stars so high above them. He knew they were fake. He still enjoyed them. The animals weren't real either, but Jake was still happy for them. They seemed to sense it because they rarely spooked in his presence like they did for everyone else. This reminder of home pleased him too.

There was actually a lot to like here if one looked hard enough.

The trees and plants were ever the comforting shelter. Jake lost his fear of the dark many years ago when he decided to embrace the solitary life and these woods had proven just as much a cradle as the ones back home. Perhaps even moreso given how they usually hid him from all the rampant danger here.

A brief smile stretched his cracked lips. Then he sighed and got to his feet. There was always more work to be done and never enough time to accomplish it all.

Jake picked up his toolbox and headed ever farther away from the campfire until he reached the home he had built.

It took time, but Jake had eventually realized that one didn't have to participate in every trial.

There was probably a limit to The Entity's patience so Jake threw his hat in the ring every so often, usually when he was running low on supplies-just to be safe. It still afforded him a considerable amount of down time.

Claudette was the only one who knew about the house and the fact that proximity to the campfire was what actually pulled a person into trials.

Jake still remembered when she found out his secret.

He'd been hammering on a piece of corrugated steel stolen from one of The Entity's sham buildings. It was loud, but necessary, however distasteful he might find using the material. Still, Jake thought he had a little time to do the work. He'd used the key on the hatch in the last round and imagined he had a while longer to make some noise.

Evidently not, his mind supplied, as he saw her silent and staring.

Jake hadn't heard her approach either but of course he wouldn't have. This was Claudette of all people.

After a minute of them staring at each other, Jake put his tools away. If she was here that meant the trial was as good as over. Claudette never left anyone behind if she could help it.

Despite surface similarities they were actually very different. She hadn't given up on humanity yet.

Jake disappeared into the shell of the building-it still needed that steel roof-and sat down on his makeshift couch to wait.

Claudette joined him soon enough and instead of saying anything or asking him any questions she simply handed him a sheaf of paper and sat down across from him on a pilfered steel drum.

Jake stared at the pages for a moment before beginning to read.

When he was finished, he blinked in surprise and stared at her. These were very detailed notes that explained far more than he'd garnered about their shared nightmare.

Normal people would probably have discussed things. Instead, Claudette handed him some blank pages and a makeshift pencil. He exchanged her notes for these and sat back. She left without another word but returned some time later to collect what he had written about his experiences.

After that, she showed up at times and they would sit together in silent, mutual appreciation of nature. Claudette shared with him her other notes, about the plants and animals, how they were different from or the same as those in the normal world. Jake would make comments in the margins about his observations.

Jake wasn't and would never be an academic, but he knew his flora and fauna. She seemed to appreciate that judging by her infrequent but still meaningful smiles. He felt the same way about her, loved the fact she never put any pressure on him to conform or even speak.

Reflecting on it now, Jake realized they had never exchanged a single word.

The thought made him smile.

Then he got down to the business of stripping branches for insulation. It was colder, lately, and he'd been meaning to do this for a while. Let Claudette handle Dwight and whoever else turned up for the next trial. She was actually way better with people than she gave herself credit for.

Jake worked until his limbs felt as heavy as the logs in between which he was stuffing this makeshift insulation. There was no real way to measure time inside the nightmare, especially around the campfire, but he felt he had put in his eight hours.

He didn't feel hungry or sleepy though. He never did. That didn't mean he couldn't have cravings. Right now, Jake thought he could go for some curry. Maybe with prawns or-heck, he'd take just about anything. Pork. Tofu. Especially beef. The thought made his mouth water, but his stomach didn't grumble. It never had.

Jake flopped back on the couch he had pilfered, cushion by hard-won cushion, from The Entity's version of Haddonfield. His breath whooshed out of him and he sat there with his feet splayed and his head thrown back for quite a while.

Sleep was a different matter. It could happen, the same way he could probably eat crow if he really wanted to. But like that phantom animal, it just wasn't as satisfying as the real thing.

Jake tried for sleep anyway.

Better than being sore.

He woke an interminable amount of time later and judged it enough by the fact his arms felt less like lead.

Jake inhaled the ubiquitous cool mist deep into his lungs as he thought about what else he needed for his current project.

Twine. Definitely. And nails were always good to have. He was running low on those. He also wanted to try for a real bed. Since that was the case, he'd definitely need his toolbox.

Jake picked it up and made his way toward the campfire before he could stop himself. He fished around inside his jacket pocket for the cracked pair of glasses he knew was there and then dropped them into the flames.

The fire flared, briefly, before settling.

Jake sat back to wait. It wasn't long before Meg showed up, then David, and finally, Feng.

She smirked at him as they were spirited away.

Jake rolled his eyes but none save the crow saw him. It blinked, cocked its head, but did not fly away.

Jake said a silent thanks and headed the opposite way. Already, he could hear The Nurse screeching. "Sally" never did anything by halves. She either murdered them all in a matter of minutes or seemed to forget her own strengths and let everyone get away as a result.

She was a strange one and he didn't feel like dealing with her just yet.

Jake crept into his favorite room and climbed on top of one of the bunk beds. From there it was easy to make the jump to the unfinished wall. Most people wouldn't have noticed the fact that there was no real ceiling in this spot, only darkness. Jake discovered it early in his tenure. So far, he'd successfully kept this secret to himself too.

He tucked his feet under him and braced himself against the wall. As always, the darkness clung to him like a wet blanket. He could practically feel The Entity watching, whispering.

Jake didn't care now. Oh, he'd been spooked the first time, but it didn't take him long to realize The Entity wasn't actually going to do anything about him finding yet another one of its gross oversights.

Sometimes he listened to The Entity's otherworldly whispers for hours while the frustrated killer looked for him to no avail. Today, he was on a mission.

Jake let The Nurse make two passes through the room before he dropped down to work on the generator. He had it up and running and was back in his hiding spot when she blinked back into the room. She hadn't found anyone yet, which suggested she wasn't feeling it this time. Still, Jake wasn't about to let his guard down.

He waited for her heartbeat to recede and then slipped down the wall once more. Now that the generator was lit there was no reason for anyone to come back here. He could, at last, get down to the real business of breaking down these beds.

Jake kept an ear out as he dragged down heavy mattresses and loosened screws. He had a little cloth pouch he kept smaller items in so as not to lose them. The mattresses dampened any noise he might have made otherwise.

When Jake deemed it safe, he began carrying pieces of the disassembled bed to the exit. He piled them silently, one piece at a time, behind the dumpster. Then came the harder task of dragging the two mattresses.

Jake waited until he heard someone screaming to begin.

By the time he'd managed it, all the gens were up and two people were wiggling on hooks.

It seemed "Sally" had changed her tune. Jake wondered if she knew what he had done and if she took it personally. He shrugged and opened the exit. Only when he had dragged all of his supplies to the edge did he venture out to help his fellows.

It wouldn't do to get them too pissed off at him. Then they would never leave him alone. But neither did he want anyone to see his haul. That would really get them asking questions. Luckily, it seemed David had gone for Meg so all Jake had to do was get Feng.

She regarded him with cold eyes from where she hung.

"About time," she said, and spit blood at his feet.

He rolled his eyes and she smirked, but he wiped that expression off her face soon enough with the pain from being lifted off the hook.

Jake took off hoping she wouldn't follow. He should have known better.

"Hey," she said, and when that didn't get a reaction, "Chaebol, hey."

Jake stopped dead in his tracks.

"Shut up, Feng." He didn't look back.

He definitely wasn't going to heal her now, a fact she well knew. She'd only said it, as ever, to get under his skin.

Jake still didn't understand how she knew about his heritage, but she did and she was always, always ready to use it against him.

"What's the matter? Golden parachute get stuck in some trees?"

Jake kept going, his teeth grinding together. His heart clenched painfully in his chest-an old pain flaring to life again. Damn her.

They were almost at the exit now and she was going to see his supplies and do...he didn't know what with that knowledge, but whatever it was wouldn't be good.

People like her, they made his decision to abandon his crushing responsibilities as heir to his father's company seem all the more worth it.

"You're a disgrace, you know that? I bet your dad-"

Jake had her pinned against the wall before he realized what he had done, his arm pressed against her windpipe and her-

Still smirking.

"That's more like it. Chaebol." Her laugh was high and cold, but there was something odd in her eyes.

Jake didn't care to explore what it meant. He let her go and she slumped down the wall before regaining her bearings. He was halfway across the room before he heard her footsteps. Still following. Damn it.

It was too late now. They were at the exit and there everything was. Remarkably, she didn't comment. Only helped him carry it all through the forest and back to the campfire.

Feng still didn't say a word, but as he dragged first one mattress and then another off into the woods, her eyes said he owed her big time.

Whatever.

Jake dragged his new bunk bed back to his house piece by piece and set everything up before collapsing onto the top bunk for the most restful sleep he'd ever had here.

He awoke almost refreshed and wasn't that a miracle.

Jake wondered why he hadn't done this sooner, then he started to climb down and noticed Feng lounging on the bottom bunk.

"So," she said, before Jake could wipe the surprise off his face. "This is where you've been hiding."

Jake didn't answer. His heart was racing and he fought to get it under control. This was his space. His personal- And she had invaded it. Claudette was one thing, but this was-

Jake made a fist in front of his mouth and fought to breathe through it.

She was staring at him, he realized. She knew. But how? How on Earth did she know everything about him? All his secrets, his past? But she wasn't mocking him, wasn't even speaking, and he didn't know why.

The thought sent a fresh wave of anxiety through him.

"Get out," he said, finally. And if his voice sounded a bit hoarse he didn't care.

He expected- "Oh, fine. Pussy." But she surprised him again with her acquiescence.

She was gone before he could pull his jaw up and just like that he was alone again.

The mist, ever present, curled around him like an embrace.

Jake shivered even as he put his face into his hands and began to quietly sob. The adrenaline was dying in his veins.

He felt unmade. Again.

It was a long time before Jake could work past the hurt enough to get down.

He found a cloth and scooped some water from a drum before scrubbing his face.

Jake felt more like himself now, but there was a chink in his armor and Feng had found it. This wasn't over, he knew. Not when it was Feng of all people. He didn't know why she seemed fixated on him, but ever since the beginning she'd trolled him without mercy. It would have been one thing if she hadn't possessed uncanny knowledge of all his weaknesses. Jake was used to people trying to make his life hell. He just didn't know what to do with someone who actually had the power to do just that.

Jake lost himself in hard labor and slept again. When he awoke, he found his thoughts still in turmoil and so returned to the campfire to quiet them. There was nothing like fighting for your life to distract you from everything else.

Jake entered the match with renewed determination. If he was honest, he'd never really cared to escape this place. Not really. There wasn't much left for him to go back to, after all. But now Feng had ruined what tenuous peace he had found. He had no desire to stay with someone like her around.

Jake thought back to Claudette and all her notes. He felt a little bad for not wholeheartedly pursuing this until now, but vowed to help her. If anyone was capable of lifting them out of this madness, it was Claudette.

With that in mind, Jake climbed the stack of crushed cars and stretched out to wait.

It was Claudette's old friend again and Jake was about ready to try an experiment of his own with her.

His fellow survivors were really capable people. Jake watched them evade The Nurse and get all the gens done, save each other, and eventually escape.

Just him and Sally now and he was reasonably sure she couldn't teleport up here.

There was no real way to measure time in this nightmare but Jake tried anyway. He kept his own count using a sturdy stick to dent metal every so often as Sally searched for him with increasing agitation.

It was an increasingly tedious task as the hours ticked by.

Eventually she seemed to give up and go into a kind of catatonic state in the middle of the map.

Jake studied her and continued to let the hours trickle by.

After an entire day, he stretched his groaning limbs, got down, and began to move towards her.

He crept closer until he was just behind her.

Jake readied the hatched he'd long ago stolen from a locker. He sucked in a breath.

And smashed her in the back of the head with the blunt end.

The Nurse went down hard and did not move. Red blossomed across the back of the filthy sack covering her head.

Jake kicked the saw out of her hand before pulling at her mask. The cloth came off with a rustle and Jake saw filthy blonde hair caked with dirt and blood. He rolled her over and fell on his butt in horror.

Sally's mouth was sewn shut and she didn't seem to have any eyelids.

That explained the screams.

Jake retched into the grass and wiped a hand across his mouth when the heaving passed. He looked at her again and regretted it as this brought on another wave of nausea. Jake swallowed this down and reached for Sally's pulse.

Still there, if faint.

He screwed his eyes shut and pinched his nose.

Thank God.

Jake got to his feet. He felt a little wobbly still, but there wasn't enough time. Who knew when The Entity would discover this?

He grabbed Sally's bone saw and strapped it to his back. Then he dragged her to the exit and it was just like The Entity to let them both through now that Sally was of no further use to it.


	5. Chapter 5: Dwight

Chapter Five: Dwight

Jake was finally back in the clearing but he wasn't alone. He was dragging someone.

At first, Dwight was alarmed. Then he noticed the dress and promptly dropped his handcrafted wooden ornament and backed into another tree. Dwight hardly noticed the rough bark scraping against his arms as he planted his hands against it.

Jake had her to the campfire now and she was making little animal noises. It took Dwight a minute to realize why because Claudette had run in front of him and knelt down.

He darted forward to tell her this wasn't her Sally anymore, that she was The Nurse now, and stopped in his tracks at the sight of the wide, rolling eyes and the muffled screeching coming from behind lips sewed shut.

Dwight swallowed hard and fought to calm his suddenly frantic breathing. Claudette had The Nurse's arm in a vice-grip while Jake held her down. The Nurse raised other her arm and a familiar fire burned in her grasp. Dwight acted on instinct and slapped her hand down.

The fire disappeared but she began struggling in earnest. Horrible screeching filled his ears and her eyes continued to roll. It made Dwight's stomach churn. Except after a minute or two of this, she met Claudette's gaze and suddenly stilled.

"Sally." Claudette's voice cracked. He could see her trembling. "Look, Sally, it's Christmas. You remember Christmas, don't you?" She pointed to the dilapidated tree Dwight had finished hanging corn-husk garlands and wooden ornaments on. The Nurse's eyes passed over Dwight before lighting on the tree. He shuddered in silence.

They had been stuck by the campfire for ages, until Feng, of all people, mentioned she'd met someone new and he'd told her it was Christmas back in the real world. That got everyone talking and soon enough Dwight determined a little Christmas cheer was exactly what they all needed. It was easy to coax Claudette into parting with some of her corn husks after that. Meanwhile, Feng disappeared somewhere and when she returned she had all the tools necessary for the crude crucifixes and candy canes now adorning their little tree.

Dwight watched The Nurse's eyes for any hint of recognition and thought he saw a faint glimmer. Then she was back to struggling again. Dwight had to slap her hand away twice more before Claudette called for a knife.

Feng appeared out of nowhere-Dwight still wasn't sure where she'd been and he wasn't about to ask-and supplied the item. It was testament to the surrealness of the moment that even she was cooperating without any fuss.

"Help me." Claudette's words were like a lead weight because Dwight knew exactly what she wanted. Thankfully Feng stepped in and gripped The Nurse's head while Claudette made shushing noises as she carefully cut each of the stitches sewing The Nurse's mouth shut.

There was no small amount of blood due to The Nurse's continued struggles, but Dwight supposed that was better than the alternative.

When it was done, The Nurse fell absolutely still. All sound seemed to stop as they collectively held their breath. Then she contorted, throwing everyone onto their backs with the power seeming to come from her in waves.

She contorted up into the air, her arms and feet stretched toward the ground as her back bowed upward toward The Entity.

A wind whipped through the clearing and the campfire guttered and then went out.

Dwight lay paralyzed looking at her dark shape against the backdrop of the stars.

The Nurse let out a scream far louder and more terrible than any that had been heard before as the trees tossed their limbs in increasing ferocity of the wind.

Then she dropped like a stone.

The campfire flared to life and the wind died in that instant. The clearing was still and silent except for the sound of settling leaves.

Everything happened in slow motion after that: Claudette scrambling to her feet and rushing over to The Nurse's side. Her head lolling as Claudette shook her. Claudette's quiet sobs. Then, finally, the slow rasp of The Nurse's breath.

"We've got to move her." Reality snapped back into place at Jake's words and Claudette and even Feng nodded.

It seemed Dwight was the only one out of the loop. He tried not to feel resentful about that, he really did.

"Where?" he asked, because there was _nowhere_ _to go_ and, frankly, he wasn't even sure any of them were thinking rationally right now.

Jake just looked at him. And sighed.

Dwight really, really tried not to feel resentful about that. He opened his mouth, closed it. "You know what? Never mind. Just- Let's hurry." He grabbed The Nurse's legs and raised his eyebrows at Jake who took the hint and gripped under her arms.

The group shuffled after Jake and into the woods. They walked for a time until they came to a log cabin with a corrugated steel roof wedged between several trees. It looked spacious, almost homey.

Dwight stopped in his tracks and shook his head.

"You're really something else, you know that?"

Jake did not reply, but then Dwight didn't expect him to. It wasn't a compliment.

The closer they got to the structure the more angry Dwight became, until he was all but grinding his teeth together.

They went inside and Dwight took it all in as they laid The Nurse down on the bottom bunk bed in the room. There was also a couch, fireplace, several barrels filled with water plus some empty ones, lockers, a crude table and chairs...pretty much anything one could hope for in this place.

Claudette rummaged with ease among Jake's supplies and returned with a cool cloth that she placed on Sally's forehead. Feng settled on the couch and crossed her legs.

Dwight's chest felt tight. He ground his molars together and tried to remind himself that now was not the time, but he couldn't shake his raw feelings of anger and betrayal.

It seemed things hadn't changed very much for him after all. He should have known. But what hurt the most was that Claudette had kept all of this from him. He trusted her and it blew up in his face.

Typical.

Really, how much was a man supposed to take?

Dwight backed out unnoticed and returned to the campfire. It took several rounds with new faces-for The Entity had cheerfully resumed the trials now that Jake was back-to calm him down. Ironic, but he was finding that fighting for his life could be a balm.

He was readying up for a third round when he spotted Claudette at the edge of the forest. She beckoned him. Dwight didn't really want to go but he was calm enough now that he could.

He followed her into the forest, his mouth a thin line.

Claudette lead him away until the campfire was but a flicker before stopping.

"I'm sorry, Dwight." Her back was tense in the moonlight. He realized it was the first time she had ever used his name and somehow that was enough. He could tell she was sorry and he wanted to forgive her.

"For?" It was petty to make one so antisocial admit anything but Dwight had something else on his mind now.

"Keeping Jake's cabin a secret." She turned to look at him, her eyes liquid in the dark.

"This is exactly what It wants, you know," he said, instead of _I forgive you_. "Secrets, lies, us not working together. It's after our souls, Claudette." Dwight gripped her shoulder when he said her name. He felt her flinch but didn't back down. It was vital that she understand.

After a moment, Claudette nodded.

"It will never stop," he said, as he withdrew his hand.

"I know. But we have Sally now…" It was more than Dwight expected her to say. He sucked in a breath and lifted himself back up from where he had hunched over her smaller frame.

"Claudette-" he began, but she cut him off.

"It's Sally. She's not… She remembers. Dwight, she remembers!"

It was the first time he'd heard Claudette so animated and it was this that made him pause and consider things.

"Remembers what?" he asked, but Claudette only beckoned him to follow her. He did because he knew how important Sally was to her, that she wouldn't want to be away from Sally's side for long now that she had her back. It was a little disheartening to realize he was afraid of being replaced and that he'd forgiven her easily enough to feel this in the first place, but Dwight acknowledged this thought with a little pang. Something else to work out later...or never.

They were back at the cabin all too soon. Dwight steeled himself before stepping through the door. His eyes flicked around and some of his tension seeped away when he noted Feng's absence. His gaze found The Nurse next. She was still on the bed with the same cloth on her forehead but her breathing was slow and rhythmic and Dwight realized she was sleeping.

Jake put a finger to his lips and ushered them outside.

"Is what Claudette said true?" Dwight asked, when they were a safe distance away.

Jake exchanged a meaningful look with her and again Dwight felt an odd stab of insecurity-odd for the fact he had someone to feel insecure about to begin with. Dwight didn't have friends. His tormentors had always made sure of that.

He rolled his eyes at himself but apparently Jake thought it was for him.

"Yes." There was a silence where Dwight stared back and forth between them expectantly. Then Jake said, "I don't know how or why but she's lucid. She's a person. Not...The Nurse."

Dwight sucked on his teeth, pondering this.

"And she's...alright?"

Jake shrugged but Claudette nodded.

"She just needs some time." Dwight looked down and saw Claudette was wringing her hands. "I want to stay with her."

It took a second to realize Claudette was asking him for permission. He didn't know what to say.

"I-yeah, of course…" came his lame reply.

Claudette nodded at him and walked back into the cabin. Jake gave him a knowing look.

"You're welcome to uh, come in if you want." He rubbed the back of his head a little until Dwight said he would and then headed inside.

Dwight was left alone in the moonlight with only the faint creaking of The Entity for company. It was this that decided him and quickened his feet.

He sat on the couch for lack of something better to do when he finally made it in.

Claudette was crouched on the other side of Sally's bed. There was an almost reverent look on her face as she stroked the older woman's hand. Dwight followed the pattern of her thumb before he let his gaze trail upward.

Sally's eyes were closed and her lips and face clean and free of any wounds. She did look human now and Dwight let himself wonder at what had happened to her.

It looked like they could all be redeemed from the cruel fate The Entity had planned for them, though this seemed too good to be true and Dwight knew it probably was. The Entity didn't have a merciful bone in its body. It was just serving its needs in a different way this time. Turn The Nurse back into Sally just to feed on her again. On the other hand, that meant their souls could somehow be regenerated. It was a mind blowing prospect.

The Entity didn't know it, but it had just given them valuable knowledge. All that remained was to see how Sally did. If she made a full recovery it would be a miracle, but they could use that. New hope bloomed in Dwight's chest and he wondered for a second if this was the actual trap here before dismissing the thought.

After only fifty or so matches, Dwight knew It wasn't that clever.


	6. Chapter 6: Feng

Chapter Six: Feng

Feng saw much more than she let on.

It was part of being so observant, this in turn a smaller piece of her gaming strategy in general and thus _her life_.

Feng didn't plan any of it. She was just naturally gifted, a fact for which she was endlessly grateful. Most people didn't stop and think and thus made piss poor strategists-another thing that came naturally to her.

Then again, most people were idiots.

The fact Feng had somehow ended up with a semi-good team during this, the greatest challenge of her life, continually surprised her. She wouldn't go so far as to say she was _impressed_ with most of them, but they were decent at supporting her while she got the work done and for that she was happy.

Everyone knew Feng was good at repairing generators. And she would never let them forget it. She permitted those bloody-clothed survivors to see her coming because she was going to surpass them all in the end.

And there would be an end.

Every game had its final arc. It would become boring otherwise. Too much repetition. Even hack n' slash games only went so far.

No, Feng was certain that The Entity was the final boss. She was just waiting for a weapon to appear, then she'd take it and plunge it into the beast.

She was a hero in her own mind even if no one else saw her that way.

Except lately Feng thought she just might not be the only one. It was this crew, really. Claudette was like a white mage, then there was David the barbarian. Meg reminded her of a couple of choice heroines, Laura Croft chiefly. It was all in the legs. And Jake, well, he was a survivor. Just like her.

That was what drew Feng to him initially, well before she recognized him. Yeah, she knew who he was thanks to her mom's trashy gossip rags she liked to read in the bathroom. Jake Park, the chaebol heir who left it all behind to become some kind of hermit. It had been quite the scandal.

Feng would never, ever admit it to Jake, but sitting there on the can reading his story so lurid in black-and-white had been the catalyst she needed to get out from under her parent's thumb and strike out after her own dreams. After all, if this chaebol heir didn't care about filial piety or losing face, why should a relative nobody like her?

That had been the best decision ever, even if it didn't turn out like she planned.

After she saw Jake Park here for the first time, she knew without a doubt that they were going to beat this game. Destiny and all that. She'd been made a believer by the sheer serendipitous magnitude of running into him here.

Feng didn't say anything about it, just watched him. She was good at that. She had him made long before she helped him carry his supplies back to the campfire.

Mr. Chaebol might have thought he was sneaky, but he had nothing on her. He didn't even notice when she pilfered some of his supplies and tools, or when she took naps on his sofa. But, as with every game, Feng eventually grew bored slipping past his defenses and decided to to insert herself more boldly into his life.

That didn't work out like she planned. However, like most things in her life, it ended up being even better.

Apparently, Feng thought to herself as she stared at Sally resting on the bottom bunk, she was really good at motivating people too.

Jake had delivered yet again after her casual manipulation. Yes, they made a great team. Which was why she wasn't going to let him slip up and become complacent again.

They had their weapon now. It might need some time and a few upgrades, but it was theirs along with the knowledge of how to make more.

"Hey," Feng said, breaking the silence that had stretched for many minutes now as she introspected. "Where did you get all this water, anyway?"

Jake turned his unfocused gaze away from the window towards her. He paused, then grimaced.

"What?"

"Oh, come on. Just tell me already." Feng knew about the lake. She just wanted him to say it.

Jake's lips were a thin line across his face. She smiled back, knowing how cold it would look. But he was adorable, really. No one stood against her for very long, not even Mr. Reticence himself.

He sighed and Feng's smile widened. Then he told her what she already knew: that there was a lake on the other side of the campfire.

"See? Was that so hard?"

Jake shook his head and rolled his eyes.

"Thank yooou," she said, mocking him with the drawn out syllable.

Feng got up and stretched. She regarded Jake for another moment before turning to leave.

"I'm gonna check it out. See ya."

As planned, Jake found his backbone with those words.

"Wait."

She turned to look at him, one eyebrow arched.

"Let's fill one up." He looked mortified at himself, the poor thing.

"Are you asking for my help?"

Feng could practically hear those teeth grinding.

"You're right," he said, finally. "We are getting low."

"That's all you had to say." Feng opened a locker and took out all his metal buckets. She kept two for herself and tossed the last one to Jake with a smirk. "You're welcome."

He looked shocked, probably wondering how she knew about his methods. Feng didn't bother to wait for him. It was going to be a slow process but eventually Jake would realize just how much he underestimated her.

She wanted him to know. Just like she eventually wanted to make him hers. Destiny and all that.

But she could wait. Feng, despite her reputation (so, so carefully cultivated), was actually pretty patient-except when it came to noobs. She would build Jake up from the broken shell all that family pressure had made him before she even let him realize she liked him. She was nice like that.

Feng swung a bucket like she hadn't a care in the world. She skirted the campfire, making sure she wasn't close enough to get pulled in to a match. Ace and David and Meg were all waiting there. They didn't see her, which was just as well.

After another few minutes of walking and steadily ignoring Jake who probably thought he was the master of stealth lagging behind her, the lake came into view.

It was as beautiful as ever. Still, silent, almost eerie in its perfection. A lot of things The Entity messed up. This it had down to perfection, which did make her wonder.

She filled her buckets before taking a seat on the quiet shore. This had to be the best place in their shared nightmare.

"It's beautiful," Feng said, as if it was her first time.

Jake started behind her. Apparently, he still thought she didn't know he was there. She turned and smiled at the man, let him see just a hint of the real her.

He seemed at a loss for words. Which was fine. She could wait.

Feng sat while Jake filled his bucket, then stood to follow him. She took it as a positive sign that he didn't offer to carry one of hers too. A few years in the woods weren't enough to wipe out the manners ingrained into him from birth. Him not offering meant he acknowledged her as strong, which was good since she _was_.

Feng mentally gave him a few points.

They made the trek several more times until the barrel was full. Then Feng took a ladleful for herself and sat back on the couch again. After a while she pulled a glossy yearbook page out of her pocket and stood to hand it to Jake. When burned it would send them to Haddonfield and they both knew it, although it looked like Jake thought he was the only one. Boys always thought they were so clever. She delighted in showing them otherwise.

"Just let me know when you want to get another couch or two for this place. Lots of company now."

Jake looked from the page to her, as if he had never seen her before. She smiled and it wasn't all cold this time.

"I-thanks…" he said, and seemed about to say more. She knew he wasn't ready though so she turned and left with a little wave.

"Later."

Sally was coming around now anyway and Feng didn't want to be there for it. She was many things, but a babysitter wasn't among them.

Several rounds later she returned to take a much deserved break and found Sally and Jake talking quietly. Her hands balled into fists before she noticed.

Feng let it go as quick as it came. She leaned against the house where they couldn't see her and listened to their conversation.

She'd never heard Jake talk so much. To anyone. But this was what she wanted, wasn't it? Jake getting out of his shell? Having more self-confidence?

Yes, Feng decided, this was a good thing. Which was why she wasn't going to spoil it with her presence. Feng knew enough that this would only shut him down.

He didn't get her game yet.

Stupid boys.

"I'm so sorry," she heard Sally say.

"Sally. You've got to stop apologizing. It wasn't you."

There was a brief pause and she imagined Jake with his hand on Sally's arm.

"You don't understand. I _knew_. I just couldn't stop myself."

Sally was crying again. She'd been doing that a lot since she got back. Feng didn't blame her. It was still annoying though. She was itching for some real action. She wanted that final boss fight.

"Hey, hey, Sally. It's okay. It's _okay_."

Sally cried harder.

"Thank you. I don't know what would have happened to me if you hadn't rescued me…" Feng could just make out her words through the tears.

"It's not your fault." Even Jake's voice sounded rough. "No one blames you. Besides, I could tell you were fighting it. There were plenty of times you could have killed us all except you didn't. I was watching you, you know. I knew."

Sally's intake of breath was sharp, then she seemed to completely lose it. Feng felt tears well at the corners of her eyelids, but for a different reason. She blinked to clear them and one tracked down her face.

That was when she saw Claudette watching from the shadows.

Feng scowled and stalked away from the house.

"We're not in a match now," she said, as she breezed past. _Idiot_ was left unspoken though Claudette knew her well enough she didn't even have to say it.

For once, Feng wasn't in the mood for a match. She went to the only other place she could go: the lake. Staring at the placid waters grounded her and soon her 'little mood' as she was going to refer to it was past.

When Feng turned she found Claudette there again and almost screamed.

"You scared me," she hissed.

"I'm sorry." Claudette came to sit beside her.

"You seem to be saying that an awful lot lately," Feng said, instead of rising to that bait.

Claudette nodded. "I have a lot to apologize for."

Feng regarded her with narrowed eyes.

"No you don't."

Claudette just looked at her.

Feng sighed loudly.

"Look. You're the best one here besides me. Don't apologize for anything. We're a team." Feng grated out the words, almost regretting them even as they left her lips.

Claudette stared for such a long time that Feng thought she was going to have to spell it out for her. But then she smiled.

"Thanks."

Feng grunted in reply and they lapsed back into silence. It occurred to her that Claudette had been much more vocal lately and she wasn't entirely sure it had everything to do with Sally.

"So." Feng knew she'd be pushing Claudette's buttons with this line of questioning. She didn't care. Claudette had seen something she shouldn't have. "What's going on with you and Dwight?"

To her credit, Claudette looked confused. She shook her head.

"Don't tell me you haven't noticed."

Claudette still didn't say anything.

"Poor noob is stuck on you." Feng wasn't sure if Dwight even realized it yet. She'd give Claudette this little prod and see how things turned out.

"No," Claudette said slowly. "It's not me. It's...this place."

"Geez, Claudette. Give yourself some credit." Feng rolled her eyes but let it go once Claudette didn't say anything else. She'd done what she could. It was up to them now.

Claudette had taken the time to come sit with her even though Claudette had to be anxious to get back to Sally. Claudette was a good friend and Feng appreciated it even if she didn't always show it.

They sat in companionable silence for a while longer before Feng got to her feet.

"Come on. Let's get back." It was as close to an apology as Claudette was going to get from her and they both knew it.


	7. Chapter 7: Dwight

Chapter Seven: Dwight

Having the option to abstain from The Entity's games removed a huge, soul-crushing weight off Dwight's shoulders. Maybe that was why The Entity let Jake build the cabin in the first place or why It let all of them make use of it. Always giving them hope just to take it away later.

Dwight didn't care.

He was making the most of his down time.

There were several more bunk beds in the cabin now. He, Ace, and David had helped pilfer them and other supplies. Now they were working on expanding the structure under Jake's careful guidance.

Others had filtered in now that the secret was out. Of course, Dwight had been the one to blow it wide open. He didn't want _anyone_ feeling ostracized. In turn, the others trusted him to organize their campfire missions, even down to who would let themselves get sacrificed.

They had learned from Claudette and Sally's past mistakes. Besides, it was much easier to do now that they knew the human soul could be regenerated.

It was an incredible feeling having people put their faith in him. Dwight wasn't about to let them down.

Claudette focused a lot of her attention on Sally, but was still instrumental in the work they were doing.

Sally was doing a lot better. She wasn't quite ready to get back in the ring, but she was getting there. She watched Dwight as he chopped wood for their own personal fire and even cracked a watery smile.

Dwight gave her one right back. "Have you been down to the lake tonight?" There was no such thing as time in their shared nightmare, but Dwight was testing out an experimental sense of it. Claudette had fashioned a crude hourglass of sorts out of a can. They were going by it now, setting sleep schedules and campfire duties.

It actually helped a lot.

"No, not yet." Dwight thought he caught a hint of amusement in her voice.

"Oh, yeah?"

She nodded but didn't say anything. Dwight squinted his eyes at her and set the head of the axe on the ground. He already had a respectable pile behind him.

"What is it?"

"No, it's nothing," Sally said, but Dwight didn't believe her. He set the axe down by the wood and joined her where she sat on one of Jake's carved benches. Far better for the posterior.

"You can tell me."

Sally did laugh now. Not for long, but it still made him smile.

"You remind me of someone." Her gaze turned sad and with it Dwight's smile drooped.

"Herman?"

She nodded.

"Don't worry. We'll get him out too." He tried to sound reassuring, but he wasn't sure she bought it. Dwight did believe they would with all of his heart, but he was also a realist.

"I know," Sally said, and he wasn't sure if she was just humoring him.

"You're a kind person, Sally. I've actually never met anyone quite like you."

For some reason that brought tears to Sally's eyes.

"Whoa, no. I didn't mean to-" He stopped himself and began to just rub her back. She had been doing so well, too.

"It takes one to know one." Sally dried her eyes on her shirt and looked at him.

Dwight sputtered at the sudden turn around before he realized she was kidding him.

They both laughed.

"You know, I can still feel it crawling inside my skin." Sally stared at her hand, the one that held her power as The Nurse.

Dwight's smile froze on his face at the reminder. It softened again as he caught the look in her eyes.

"You mean…?" He didn't finish the question. It was too much to hope for that she still have her powers.

"Something like that." Sally rubbed her arm and Dwight could swear he saw a brief flicker in her palm. "I just don't know how to make it work now." Her arm dropped and she stared down.

"That's why I haven't said anything. I'm so useless." Tears slid down her cheeks again and Dwight pulled her into an embrace without thinking.

"You are not useless, Sally." He rubbed her back. "Don't ever say that."

Sally didn't say anything but nodded against his shoulder. He thought she understood. It didn't help her shaking. She was well and truly traumatized from the ordeal and nothing could change that. While it was true Sally was doing a lot better, she still had moments like this.

"You know what? Let's do something crazy."

Sally shifted to look at him, and that was when Dwight saw Claudette watching them from the treeline. His heart lurched in his chest and he suddenly felt guilty although he had done nothing wrong.

"Claudette, hey…" Sally turned her watery smile on her friend at the mention. Dwight cleared his throat and let her go. "We were just about to go swimming. Do you want to join us?" For some reason saying it aloud made him feel even more awkward. He caught something in Claudette's liquid gaze before she smiled.

"Wait. What do you mean, swimming?" Sally had shifted away and was now staring at him like he'd grown an extra head. "You didn't say anything about that."

"I said I had a crazy idea." Dwight rubbed the back of his neck, his eyebrows raised. He stopped doing that once he realized what an insecure gesture it was. Dwight might have felt that way but he was training himself not to show it. "Look, I think we could all use the break. And maybe we can even find something useful there?" He posed the last as a question. They had never been to the other side of the lake and he'd been meaning to suggest it.

As usual, Claudette understood what he was trying to say without him having to say it. "Alright."

"Great. You round up the others and we'll meet you there." Dwight having Claudette talk to people was part of his overall strategy to ease her social anxieties. He knew Claudette understood this because she sighed.

"Okay, Dwight. I...will." Dwight was so proud of her. He didn't say it, only smiled.

"Hey. Don't I get a say in this?" Sally cut in and he stared at her. Claudette was already gone.

"I-no, of course not." Sally looked shocked for a second, then she swatted him. She was smiling again and that was all that mattered.

"You're doing a great job with her," Sally said as they both stood up.

Dwight felt himself blushing and thanked the gods they lived in perpetual night. "Yeah? I uh...well, it's really Claudette doing all the work."

"Now don't be bashful, handsome." Sally patted his shoulder.

Dwight felt his flush go into overdrive. "I'm not...really!"

"Yes, you are." Sally held him by the elbow now, her hand curling around his arm. "You're a great influence on her." Dwight felt like he could fry an egg on his face at this point. "And an even better leader."

"Another thing," Sally continued while Dwight sputtered for words. "Part of what's eating at me is that I remember everything. But that means I've seen you grow...young man."

Dwight stopped in his tracks. His mind fought itself over what expression to make and what even to say. There were so many emotions coursing through him that he couldn't seem to settle on any one. Sorrow, for Sally's trauma. Horror for his own situation, his past. Shame, and pride, and finally-

Joy.

"Hey, now," he managed, through the film of tears she could no doubt see. "You aren't that much older."

Sally laughed and it was without weight. Dwight's heart soared along with hers. They got to the lake too soon after that, but nobody was there yet.

"Shall we, madame?" Dwight said, sending them both into another fit of laughter. They stripped to their undergarments and got into the water.

"This...actually isn't bad," Dwight said, as he treaded water. It did feel good, actually kind of warm. Odd that water from this lake could be cool and refreshing to drink but warm and relaxing to swim in.

"No, it isn't." There was something in Sally's tone that made his eyes snap to her.

"Sally?"

She just shook her head and smiled. Then she splashed him.

It was on after that.

And soon the others appeared and it turned into an all out war.

David, Meg, Ace, Nea, Laurie, Quentin, even Jake. Only Claudette and Feng remained on the shore. And then it was just Feng and Claudette was in the mix and Claudette was laughing too. Claudette with her hand on his arm. Claudette trying and failing to dunk him.

Not even Feng's yelled insults and jeers could take away from the moment Claudette's eyes met his amid the ruckus. There was something tangible there. Dwight almost…

But then Feng joined in and she seemed hell bent on getting him wet before she noticed Jake not too far off. By then it was too late and the moment was gone.

No one was left on shore to turn the hourglass but Dwight felt sure the battle continued for at least an hour. By the time it was over everyone had retreated to the shore to wallow on the beach.

"Can't...breathe…" He heard Meg say.

"You got lucky this time," Ace followed.

"I won, I did," David chimed in. He was grinning wide enough and Dwight wasn't about to disagree. They had _all_ been dunked by him at least once.

"The hell you did," Feng said, when she recovered her breath. Dwight was not about to get in the middle of that one. He pushed himself into a sitting position as those two moved off to the side to argue. More fierce splashing ensued. Feng, Dwight decided, was pretty agile.

He looked over and saw Claudette staring at him and that was what made him realize he'd been focusing on Feng and she was in her underwear and-

Dwight lit up like a tomato.

"Well." He cleared his throat. "Should we um, try swimming to the other shore?"

Claudette looked away and Dwight tried not to let that feel like a rejection. He opened his mouth to say something but then closed it.

"I'll do it." Claudette's gaze found his again. "Alone."

"No," Dwight said, using his best firm tone. "Together."

"It might be dangerous, Dwight. We can't afford to lose you."

Dwight pivoted to look at her more directly. "And what makes you think we can afford to lose you?" He stared at her long enough that she fidgeted and then he looked away. He had made his point.

"I'll go," Sally said, and they both turned to her. "It's the least I can do. Besides, if something does happen you know how to get me back."

"Sally…" Dwight started.

"No, Dwight. I think I need to do this. There's something familiar about this place and I think it's from before." She didn't need to elaborate.

"I don't like the idea of you going alone. Please let me come." Sally didn't miss a beat. She leaned in and pinched Dwight's cheek.

"You're so cute, but no. Some things a woman has to do alone." Sally patted his stinging cheek and turned to Claudette. "You take care of Dwight now, okay?"

She was gone before that ominous proclamation could really sink in and all Claudette and Dwight could do was stare at each other. Meanwhile, the others splashed and played and laughed.


	8. Chapter 8: Sally

Chapter Eight: Sally

Sally swam until she could barely hear the others and then turned over to float on her back. She was nearing the middle of this mammoth lake and knew that was when the transition would take place.

She hadn't been lying to Dwight or Claudette, only omitting certain things-like the fact that she already knew what lay on the other shore.

Sally remembered everything. She remembered her time in the trials and she remembered the rest of it all too. In reality, the trials took up only a fraction of her time as The Nurse. The rest was spent with the other killers and like the survivors, they had their own sense of community and ways of doing things.

There was a reason Sally couldn't admit any of this to the others. They already looked at her with such pity. She couldn't stand it if they knew of her self-loathing, worse, the fact that it was well justified. The Nurse would always be a part of her. Sally felt her alter ego like a breath under her skin, always present and waiting. She'd told the others about the retention of her powers. She just hadn't told them _why_ she still had them. If it was this hard for her to face, she couldn't imagine how the others would react. They didn't understand and Sally hoped for their sakes that they never would.

No one need suffer like she and the other killers ever again if they had their way. Dwight was turning out to be a good leader, it was true, and he would need more than just her to defeat The Entity.

The second Sally crossed the invisible barrier in the center of the lake she seized up and slipped below the surface with her mouth open in a silent scream. The Nurse was suddenly there, as Sally had always known she would be. But unlike when she'd first been unmade, Sally knew how to fight back now.

She thought of Claudette and how she was slowly coming out of her shell.

Sally thought of Dwight and his earnestness and how much he actually cared for other people.

She recalled how Jake had reassured her during those awful early days.

Sally remembered Feng's ungainly pursuit of Jake and how oblivious he was to it.

Sally thought of everything that made her happy or that gave her hope. It was so much that her heart swelled and as it did so Sally felt The Nurse recede back to her rightful place just under Sally's skin.

She surged to the surface and took a few gasping, coughing breaths, then turned over on her back once more.

She would have to be very careful from here on out.

Sally took her time letting herself calm down and began to swim slowly to the shore. She stopped when first caught sight of it and watched for any movement. There wasn't any but she knew Philip or Freddy could still be around. Sally listened and it was only when she noted the absence of any childhood rhymes that she deemed it safe enough to come onshore.

Sally rubbed the thick shore mud into her wet hair and across her too-pale skin.

The silence pressed in on her until her ears began to ring as Sally made her way into the treeline. There was a stillness to these woods that was entirely different than on the other side of the lake. There were nightmares here, or the promise of them, and deep down in her animal brain she would have known that even if she hadn't been here before.

Sally crept from shadow to shadow until she reached a tree that was slightly different than the rest. It's span was larger than most and it was taller, with thicker branches. Perfect for climbing. Sally did that now, quick and quiet, wiping up any mud she left behind as she went. She settled on a low bough and hid herself among the leaves to wait.

It didn't take long.

Michael was the first one she saw pass by and she thanked God that he had little reason to look up. He was one of the few she'd actually been afraid of even during her time as The Nurse. There was just something creepy about him and Sally had always suspected that The Entity hadn't made many alterations to turn him into The Shape. Hearing Laurie's stories about her biological brother only confirmed what she already knew. He was truly a monster both before and after. Actually, Sally wasn't sure there had been a _before_ in his case. She thought The Entity had probably snatched him up from the real world as he was.

She definitely did not need his attention on her now.

Sally also wanted to avoid Freddy and Leatherface for the same reasons. Quentin had been very graphic when describing the things Freddy had done and Sally suspected the same was true of Leatherface. The very fact he had given her that in lieu of a real name said a lot.

Sally watched Lisa pass by and then Evan. This was a stop on a popular path between their campfire and the shack that The Entity had fashioned for them. No one else would have been able to get this close. Then again, no one else would have known about it to begin with.

Sally summoned her bonesaw to her with a thought, knowing that if anyone noticed it missing back home they would be alarmed. She might not have had access to her full powers, but she could still do this.

The weapon felt heavier in her hands than it had when she'd used it before. She palmed it and tried not to think too hard about her past deeds. Instead, she kept her eyes open until the one she wanted finally passed under the tree.

Sally dropped like a cat onto Herman's back and slammed the dull side of her blade into the back of his head between all the metal. He went down hard with her on his back and for half a second the absurd fear that she'd broken his neck almost paralyzed her. Then she was dragging him with frightening strength away from the tree and back towards the lake.

Sally kept her eyes peeled but she didn't have time to be quiet or careful with him. Luckily, no one noticed or if they did see the trail of blood she left behind they didn't care enough to investigate.

It was the lake that proved to be the challenge, as Sally found out when Herman electrocuted them both while she was dragging him into the water.

Sally made it back to shore weak from the shock and half-drowned from her surprise. She used a branch to get Herman back onshore and sat down panting when this was done.

Herman's eyes didn't move but he was breathing his usual wheezing breaths. Relief was too heady an emotion to feel so she shoved it down where it didn't dull her senses. Instead, Sally used her bonesaw to start in on Herman's mask. It was meant to cut through flesh. Not this. It made an excruciatingly loud squeal as she ground it against the metal in Herman's head. This set her heart to pounding but she knew she couldn't stop. She'd already come this far and she was prepared to fight for the rest.

Sally finished the first cut and pulled the metal out of Herman's eye socket. The flaccid lid drooped over the eye unnaturally enough to make even her hardened stomach roil. She started in on the other one anyway.

Sally had just freed Herman's other eye when she heard Philip's wailing bell. He appeared beside her and struck where she'd just been, hitting Herman in the chest. Sally didn't waste time looking at the spray of blood. Instead, she darted to the side and slashed her bonesaw across Philip's arm. He hissed in surprise and pain and turned around.

"Sally…"

"That's right, Philip. It's me." And if there was a hard edge to her tone, who could blame her?

Philip considered her bloody clothes, then his gaze travelled to the bonesaw in her hands. Finally, his eyes met hers.

"Not Sally."

Sally smiled and it was both warm and cool at the same time.

"I'm so much more now, thanks."

Philip regarded her for a moment and then turned to Herman. He was a man of few words but Sally guessed what he was asking.

"I'm making Herman again." All she needed to do was remove that mouthpiece and it would be done.

"Again…?"

"You know. More powerful." Hope was the real currency here and she was going to give it all back to him, back to them all if she could. Not that she could really explain it all to Philip right now. She wouldn't have understood as The Nurse either. Still, hope was dawning in her that maybe, just maybe she might be bringing more than one friend home with her tonight. That was if nobody else showed up to the lake, especially the true psychopaths.

Philip cocked his head at her. Then he lunged.

Anyone else would have been decapitated. But Sally was and always would be The Nurse. In the flicker between one heartbeat and the next her power carried her to Herman's side where she knelt down and ripped his mouthpiece off without remorse. Blood sprayed in the air along with Herman's unconscious screaming. His back bowed into the air as a wind whipped across the lake.

The process of reclamation had begun. Sally didn't let her satisfaction over this show, nor did she acknowledge that her power saving her had been anything less than intentional. Instead, she took up a place between Herman and Philip and smiled a grim smile.

Philip, in turn, had taken two steps back and if a being such as he could be called wide-eyed then he certainly was. Sally was without mercy as she took advantage of his distraction. She blinked behind him and clubbed him in the head too.

The shrieking wind increased in volume, sending the trees rustling hard.

It wouldn't be long before more killers appeared, assuming they weren't just beyond the treeline already. Sally struck fast and without mercy, snapping off Philip's horns just after he hit the ground. Then she was on him, scrubbing his face with water to erase the markings. He, too, lifted into the air after it was done, whereas Herman now slumped to the ground.

Sally wiped her mouth with the back of her hand. She kept her eyes on the trees as a familiar melody made its way to her ears.

Freddy was coming.

Sally dragged Herman over to Philip and grabbed them both as soon as Philip fell to the ground once more. She just had her powers back and she'd never tried this with anyone else, much less two people. They were probably going to die, but she didn't dwell on that.

Sally blinked all three of them to the middle of the lake, then again, and again until they were home again. She collapsed onto the beach amid the sound of shrieks and screams and somewhere, far off, a deadly melody.


	9. Chapter 9: Dwight

Chapter Nine: Dwight

After the initial panic of seeing Sally aka The Nurse flying across the lake carrying two other killers, everyone sprung into action.

Claudette ran for her bag and returned with healing poultices and wraps. David and Meg turned The Doctor over and carried him out of the water. Jake and Ace grabbed The Wraith. And Dwight and Feng scooped up Sally where she lay like a ragdoll face down in the mud. Their clothes and the hourglass were picked up by Quentin and Nea.

It all happened so fast, but Dwight was proud of his team.

"Is that her blood?" Feng asked as they walked.

"I hope not." It was a lot and if it was hers, Dwight didn't know what they were going to do. He didn't know if The Entity would bring a person back to life outside of trials. It seemed reasonable to assume It would but Dwight didn't know for sure and the thought chilled him. "Set her down. Let Claudette check."

"Put her right here," Claudette said, and Dwight felt fleetingly proud of the steel in her voice. He and Feng did as they were told and Claudette checked Sally over then nodded. "She's fine. Let's get her to the cabin."

Dwight could hear the relief in her voice. He felt it too and judging by Feng's pinched brows, so did she. They hurried after the others but it turned out there really was no need. Just as had happened with Sally, both The Doctor and The Wraith looked like normal people. Maybe a little wet, but no horrific body modifications or anything that would otherwise mark them as killers.

It was a relief that this seemed to be a predictable process.

Dwight vowed to ask Sally about it when she woke up. When he thought of her, he remembered another fact that had been lost in the stress of the moment.

Sally had used her powers.

He turned to Claudette at almost the same moment she turned to him. "She did it!"

"Yes, she did!"

They stared at each other for a moment before big grins broke out on their faces. Dwight never saw Claudette like that and maybe that was why he found himself hugging her. At first she stilled in his embrace, but then she was slapping him on the back and returning the hug. He could feel the excitement vibrating though her.

"She really did it!"

Dwight didn't let the thought that Sally might not be able to do it again take hold in his mind. He was too darn happy for that. Claudette's body was warm against his and then they were jumping like school children and laughing. They separated naturally afterward and found everyone else doing much the same. Dwight handed out several more hugs, even offered Feng a one-armed embrace.

It was like their water fight all over again: everyone full of a carefree spirit, hope, and joy. Then they all seemed to remember themselves and took the party outside to let Sally and their two newest comrades rest. Laurie stayed behind to watch and everyone else milled around in the yard.

Dwight cleared his throat, finally. "Everyone, I just want to say thank you for all your hard work and dedication and-just, a huge thank you to Sally. I don't know where we would be without her. But because of Sally we are now one big step closer to getting out of here. Let's drink to that!"

A general cheer sounded through the crowd. Everyone went for Jake's stash of water and pretended it was real alcohol, so contagious was the mood. It was either that or the placebo effect but all too soon he caught sight of Quentin making out with Nea and Meg sneaking off with David. Dwight raised his eyebrows but didn't say anything. He wasn't here to judge, nor did he have any right to.

At that moment he caught Claudette's eye and, wonder of all wonders, imagined he saw a blush there. Dwight took the opportunity to put his arm around her shoulders. "We make a great team." On any other occasion that might have come across as lame but right now Dwight felt it was spot on.

"We really do," Claudette said, and grabbed his hand. They stared at the moon in silence with their fingers interlaced, each just appreciating the other's company. The fact that The Entity was there, clicking and creaking away didn't detract from the mood for once. Nothing could.

"We should check on Sally," Dwight said, after a while.

Claudette nodded but didn't move so he guided her with gentle hands and a smile back into the cabin.

Sally and the others looked to be in a dead sleep, and Laurie pronounced that they hadn't stirred. It was enough.

Dwight, Claudette, and Laurie took up a couple sofas.

"Do you think it will be enough?" Laurie wrung her hands together in her lap.

Dwight considered the question. In truth, he had no idea what it would take to kill The Entity. He only had Claudette's prior assertions that Sally was the key to it all. Claudette had been right so far and he had no reason to doubt her but he still wanted to be prepared. But Laurie didn't need to hear that right now. She was obviously worried, probably in no small part because of Michael.

"Yes," Dwight said, and then he addressed her real concern. "Don't worry, Laurie. We have your back." No matter what happened he wasn't about to allow Michael to hurt her again. It was bad enough it still sometimes happened in trials.

Laurie nodded, but her hands didn't stop and she started to chew her lip. Dwight reached over and placed a reassuring hand on her shoulder.

"After this it will _all_ be over." Dwight hoped she caught his meaning. As distasteful as it was, they were going to have to kill Michael, Freddy, and Leatherface after they escaped this place-not out of revenge or even any misguided attempt at justice. No, it was for the simple fact that those psychopaths would never stop killing people. That plus the fact that they had supernatural powers now meant they fell outside of the scope of what one could expect the police to handle.

Dwight would never forgive himself if he let those three roam free and he knew the others felt the same way.

Laurie nodded again. "I know." She looked a little sad but didn't say why and Dwight wasn't about to press her.

"Good." Dwight gave her shoulder a squeeze and leaned back.

If The Wraith and The Doctor turned out like Sally, they now had a considerable amount of muscle on their side, so to speak. It wouldn't be hard to rescue the other redeemable killers now.

For the first time in a long time, Dwight could see a palpable end at the end of the tunnel. It gave him a rush of mixed feelings, chiefly relief and uncertainty. He glanced at Claudette and found her considering The Doctor. Her curiosity was only natural. Dwight especially wanted to know what the fabled "Herman" was like. Sally spoke of him often and, of course, she had compared them. Dwight wanted that to be a good thing. He had enough confidence in himself now that he thought it probably was.

All too soon, everyone except those who were going into the current trial came back to the cabin to sleep. It had been hours since the initial excitement and most seemed worn out by the whole ordeal.

Dwight slipped into his own bunk after scrubbing his face and brushing his teeth and leaving Quentin to watch over The Wraith and The Doctor.

He was awake what felt like too soon after that, although Quentin assured him it had been over six hours.

The Wraith had scared Quentin half to death by slipping out without a word. Quentin had woken Dwight first thing after he noticed him missing.

Dwight headed back towards the lake on a hunch and found the tall, spindly man sitting with his knees tight to his body and his arms wrapped around his middle. He was rocking himself, and it was this that dispelled any lingering fear Dwight may have been holding onto.

He approached slowly, marveling at the way The Wraith blended into the environment even as a regular human. Dwight knew by now that The Entity tailored a killer's powers around his or her attributes or characteristics. He imagined that this man was also very fast.

Dwight came to a stop by The Wraith and sat down beside him without saying anything, just letting the man know by his presence that he was there for him. At first, it didn't seem like The Wraith noticed but eventually Dwight caught the other man's eyes on him.

"How long?" The man had a thick accent that Dwight couldn't place, but he understood well enough what he was asking.

"Maybe eight hours?"

The Wraith nodded as if this confirmed something for him. The silence stretched between them until finally, that deep, almost musical voice came again. "Thank you."

Dwight pursed his lips and nodded, thinking of Sally. "It wasn't me, but you're welcome all the same."

"No," The Wraith said, "it was you. We have noticed the difference since you came."

Dwight's eyes widened and he brought his hands up to wave off the undeserved praise. "No, no, this was all Sally. And Claudette."

"I do not think you understand just how long Claudette and Sally have been here. And I have been here longer still. I bloodied my clothes long before Sally appeared. We never thought we would escape this place, you know? It never even occurred to us that killers could be brought back. We have always behaved this way; myself, Sally, Claudette, it is no different. Then what changed? Sally had ideas. Claudette had ideas. Why didn't it work for them? You." And now the other man extended an overly long finger to point at Dwight. "You changed the game. I know because I remember everything." Now The Wraith tapped his head. "I see everything."

Dwight felt swept away in the tide of the other man's words. This was perhaps the nicest thing anyone had ever said to him, which really was saying a lot since everyone here had been nothing but complimentary for a long time. He opened his mouth, closed it.

"My name is Philip Ojomo and I followed a dream to your great country only to end up becoming a thing of nightmares. But now I know that one day I will be free and I am holding on again to the dream I lost along the way. Thank you, Mr. Fairfield, for waking me up." Philip extended his hand and Dwight took it, still speechless. "I am at your service."

"You're welcome, Mr. Ojomo," Dwight managed after a beat, but what he really meant was no, thank you.

"The Entity, It is big. But It is also small. It does not understand. No, It cannot understand. Many things. I have seen." Again Philip tapped the side of his head. "We will kill It because It does not understand. It knows, but It does not _see_."

"I like your attitude, Mr. Ojomo." At that the most unexpected thing happened. Philip smiled big enough to show most of his teeth and then he laughed.

"Please, call me Philip." He clapped Dwight on the back and Dwight couldn't help but shake his head.

"Welcome to the team, Philip."

"Ah, now that is something I have thought about." He went on to give his perspective on trials and offer suggestions on how to improve survivability. He was particularly helpful on the matter of stealth, as Dwight had known he would be. The whole time they spoke, Dwight couldn't help but think that Philip might be the nicest guy there and maybe the greatest thing to happen to them in a long time.


	10. Chapter 10: Herman

Chapter Ten: Herman

Herman wasn't proud when he thought back on his life, knowing now that it was nothing but a series of poor and misguided decisions that left him slowly spiraling towards insanity.

It all made sense in his mind at the time, but now Herman knew better, knew that the Entity had been grooming him for various roles for decades.

How very patient It was. And how persuasive.

Herman didn't realize the extent of his madness until he woke up a survivor. Then it was like a light switch went off in his mind, suddenly bringing awful clarity to his life, the things he had done, and most especially all the people he had hurt. The horror he felt at that had almost driven him insane for the second time.

It was only when he looked up and saw a very familiar creature in the sky that he understood it wasn't all his fault.

Herman took responsibility for his actions. He knew the blood was on his hands. But he also understood he wasn't the only one at fault. He had been manipulated and used and he would be thrice damned before he let it happen to anyone else. Or so he told himself at the time.

But being fully lucid hadn't been easy and all too soon he was crushed by the weight of his guilt.

The Doctor didn't have to feel anything.

But now that was over as well and Herman was left with fresh blood on his hands. He didn't deserve Sally's tears or her relieved smile when he said her name and he especially didn't warrant being cared for by people he had repeatedly tortured, maimed, and killed.

But Herman was wise to The Entity's games now and he didn't allow the weight of his guilt to drag him under yet again. Instead, he hid behind his anger at times and ruthlessly pushed his emotions down at others. If that left him physically ill sometimes he considered it his just punishment.

 _Focus_ , became Herman's mantra because although he didn't have much official training for the positions he had held in his former life, he'd learned a lot along the way.

Herman studied Claudette's notes and added his numerous observations before borrowing enough blank pages to write a detailed dossier on each killer. Philip was instrumental in this process because he had been around much longer than even Herman. It was he who turned Herman's mind to the problem that the survivors couldn't possibly know about without their help.

Just as The Entity had wrung the last bit of hope from Herman by first making him a survivor, so too did it suck out the final bit of energy from its killers when they inevitably broke. Philip had seen it happen two times during his tenure and Herman once.

It wasn't pretty.

"Death isn't an escape for us either," Herman told Dwight after their one of their weekly group meetups. "We have to find the old ones."

"Yes," Philip cut in before Dwight could say anything. "They, too, must be freed. Then and only then can we kill The Entity. Otherwise, It will still have the energy to suck in more people."

They all knew it to be true because after freeing Evan, Max, Lisa, and Anna, a new killer and survivor had both appeared. Detective Tapp made no bones about the demented soul inside The Pig. Just as they were drawing strength from their new companions and making plans, so was The Entity.

"Wait, the old ones? How old?" Dwight asked.

"We do not know. We cannot know because we do not know how long It has preyed upon us."

"There could be hundreds. More, even." Herman frowned as he considered the fact. "Or less. We'll just have to investigate. Take a small team to where It keeps them."

"I'm not going to like this, am I?" Dwight laughed but there was no humor in it. He looked about as shocked as Herman imagined he would be at the revelation.

"As you know, The Entity likes to compartmentalize. It's also not fond of waste. And not the best at creating our environment."

"Indeed. We are lucky to have air. Imagine suffocating in this place because It did not know better." Philip suppressed a shudder.

"This is sounding better and better." Dwight shook his head. "Okay, just tell me the rest."

"Have you ever ah, fallen out of a trial?" Herman ventured. It didn't happen as often as it used to so he wasn't sure Dwight would know what he was talking about but the other man surprised him by nodding.

"Yes. Once."

A collective shudder passed through them all.

"Are you saying that's where It keeps them? Oh, God." Dwight looked like he was going to be sick. "Who would...who do you think should go?"

Herman wasn't at all pleased about this but, "it would have to be Sally, at least. We don't have another way of getting back up here without The Entity."

"Not true. I can help." Herman turned to find Lisa quietly watching them. "Don't forget about me." Her smile was small, but genuine.

"I'm going too. I never needed this power before but I know I can make others invisible too. The Entity does not see. No, It will not find us," Philip said, with a decisive nod.

"Okay, fine," Dwight said, "You and Lisa for now. We can have Sally stand by to teleport you up in case things don't turn out like we planned. Now, the question is, how do we get there from here?"

"You're probably already thinking this but we're not as secure here as we might like to think. If we dig deep enough we will break through." Herman knew from his own experiences falling off the map how thin the ground they were walking on actually was. It wasn't something he particularly wanted confirmed but they had little other choice. If they wanted to escape this place they would have to breach it and face the horror of the void underneath.

"You're absolutely sure there's a bottom to it?" Dwight asked, as if he'd read Herman's mind. He still looked a little grey.

"Yes. I have seen it before. I was invisible when I fell so The Entity did not find me at first. It is a long, long drop, but there is a bottom. No light but still I saw everything." Philip tapped the side of his head and Herman nodded. He remembered the way Philip had acted after that particular fiasco, the haunted look in his eyes.

"That's...thank God you're alright," Dwight said.

"It is true. My god watches over me even now. I do not deserve it but I am glad to be of service."

Herman wouldn't have believed such a thing before but after everything he'd been through he knew gods and monsters were real.

"Lisa, are you sure you're okay with this? You can teleport over that big of a distance?"

Lisa hid her smile behind a hand. "Dwight, I don't think you realize this but my range is much greater than Sally's." She put a hand on his arm and squeezed. "Thank you for caring enough about me to ask."

Dwight's face flamed and Herman couldn't help but manage a thin-lipped smile. "O-of course."

Lisa gave his arm a pat and let go. Dwight cleared his throat. "We should have a meeting and inform the others. We'll do it tomorrow. Just a recon mission. For now."

Everyone nodded their agreement and went their separate ways, Dwight to a trial and the rest back to the cabin. Feng was roasting several crows over and open fire and she shrugged at Herman when he looked her way. "Had an itch."

Herman acknowledged her with a tight nod before going in to find Sally. He sat them both down on a couch and didn't speak until he held her hands clasped in his. "I know I don't have any right to ask this of you, but-"

"Herman, you know I'd do anything for you." Sally kept their hands clasped together and she squeezed.

"This is different." Herman's eyes involuntarily narrowed as he considered what he was about to say. He hated it, hated all of this. Most of all, he didn't want to lose Sally. She had been the one bright light for him from the beginning-through everything. Even as The Doctor he'd still felt something and maybe that had been why he lasted so long as a killer. He looked at Sally now and pursed his lips. "You might not come back."

Sally met his gaze to let him know she was taking this seriously and then she smiled. "I don't believe that. Go on."

Herman sighed and told her about their plan. Then he held her in his arms and vowed he would do so until the time came for her to put her gifts to work.

It came too soon, as it turned out. Herman and Evan and Max dug the hole and found the gap in reality and then Lisa and Philip went in. Lisa put down three marks and gave instructions to activate them in exactly one turn of the hourglass. Herman hovered near Sally as the rest crowded around the hole and stared.

"I'm glad it's not me," Ace said, verbalizing what everyone was already thinking.

Herman couldn't help but agree and he hoped beyond hope that Philip's god was indeed watching over them all. He gripped Sally's hand a little harder just thinking about it-any embarrassment he might have felt at such a gesture had been stripped from him ages ago.

The sand trickled ever lower under Herman's careful eye and when it was gone, Dwight stepped into Sally's mark. Immediately, her doppleganger appeared. Everyone waited for it to move but it didn't.

The apparition disappeared with a wet slurp and it got quiet.

"This is why she used more than one," Dwight said, to quiet the murmuring that had arisen. He waited for a moment before activating the second one. Another Sally appeared and for an instant Herman thought he saw it twitch. Then it, too, disappeared. Now, a palpable tension ran through the group. Dwight stared at the last trap and smiled, but it was shaky. "We'll give her a minute."

Dwight had them turn over the hourglass and they all listened to the sand hissing through it. Herman realized then that he was sweating and he took his hand out of Sally's. "Sorry."

"No, some of that's from me," she said, and grabbed his hand back. Herman rubbed his thumb along her hand and tried to remember to breathe as Dwight stepped on Lisa's last trap.

One second Lisa was standing there by herself and then everything happened at once. Lisa, covered in blood, her arms full of Philip and two other people and that song, that awful song so loud it blotted out all the screams.

Herman saw Jake's head go sideways and then Dwight's. The rest scattered like roaches into the surrounding forest. Herman pushed Sally behind him and brandished his electric baton. "Get out of here."

"No," she said, her own weapon appearing out of nowhere. He grimaced and then readied electricity in his palm, but Jake was asleep before he could release it and as Herman watched he saw Jake lurch forward past Feng as if impaled. Four deep red stains leaked down his chest. He opened his mouth, closed it, and as Evan and Herman and Sally watched, Jake fell to the ground amid Feng's screams and was still.

"Fuck you, Freddy," Evan cried and raced forward swinging his meat cleaver. Meanwhile Sally apparated next to Lisa and the others before blinking them to safety. Jake's limp form remained in Feng's arms and she was sobbing now while Dwight was racing around trying to avoid the invisible menace.

Herman charged in without a thought and guessing where Freddy was, sent a shockwave his way. He was rewarded with an inhuman scream as both this and then Evan's cleaver found their mark. Blood splattered Evan in the face but he kept swinging until suddenly, mercifully, the music stopped.

Dwight raced for the bloody patch on the ground at the same time that Claudette exploded out of the woods toward Jake and Feng. Dwight reached down and came up with Freddy's hat and claw. It wasn't long before wind whooshed through the clearing but Herman's eyes were all for Sally where she appeared covered in red.

"She's dead," Sally said, her voice quavering. "They're all dead."


	11. Chapter 11: Dwight

Chapter Eleven: Dwight

Dwight's eyes were full of Freddy's mangled body floating in front of him but they jerked to Sally when she spoke.

"What?"

The question seemed to echo through the clearing, carried by the wind from Freddy's transition.

No one answered.

Sally had collapsed to her knees and was sobbing into Herman's arms while Feng cradled Jake's lolling head in her lap. Claudette's back was to him and she didn't turn around. Only Evan seemed to be aware that Dwight had said anything at all and even that big man was squinting to keep the tears at bay.

Dwight left Freddy behind and approached Evan because he knew he had to take charge of this situation. "Evan, can you go?" Dwight looked at him. "Please."

The big man seemed unsure for a moment but he nodded and headed off without a word. Dwight turned his attention back to Freddy since both Jake and Sally were in good hands and he was the only one who could actually see the villain at the moment.

That was when he heard the sound. It was low at first but grew in volume until it eclipsed the still howling wind. Dwight covered his ears to block it out, for it was every combination adding up to nails on a chalkboard and he almost couldn't stand it.

Dwight squinted his eyes against the noise and as he did he cast them up to The Entity and realized the sound was coming from It.

The Entity writhed like Dwight had never seen before and as the sound reached a fever pitch where Dwight could feel warmth trickling down his palms from his ears, It began to split open.

Cracks of light formed on Its branches and as Dwight watched they expanded and grew brighter.

The ensuing explosion sent him flying right into a tree.

When he next opened his eyes it was to a pounding headache. Dwight struggled to a sitting position and blinked away the spots to see bodies scattered on the ground around him.

Dwight got on his knees and crawled to Claudette where she lay several feet from him, his heart in his throat the entire time. When he rolled her over she moaned and put an arm across her face.

"Thank God," he whispered, as he gently brushed a thumb against her cheek.

She slowly opened her eyes. "What happened?" But before Dwight could begin to explain she was sitting up and looking around. "Where are Feng and-" Claudette's words cut off in a choked sob as she saw Jake laying on the ground with Feng right beside him. Claudette scrambled over to them and Dwight followed, his heart heavy once more. She went for Feng and Dwight knelt by Jake.

He reached out a shaking hand to touch Jake's face expecting cold and instead found it warm. That was when he realized Jake was breathing. "He's-"

"Out of my way," Feng slurred. She slapped ineffectively at Dwight's hand where it was hovering above Jake's face before almost falling on top of the man. "'M fine."

"He's alive, Feng." She froze at his words, her hair hiding her face and her arms shaking where they held her body over Jake's.

A single tear dropped onto Jake's face and he groaned before blinking harshly. "Feng?" He blinked some more and frowned at her. "You're crying? What...?"

Feng hesitated and then dragged him up by his collar so she could wrap her arms around him. "Just shut up." Jake's arms stretched out awkwardly for a moment before slowly coming to circle her waist as she sobbed into his shoulder.

Dwight looked at Claudette to find tears in her eyes too. She nodded at him and they both backed away.

"I don't understand," Claudette said, her hands twisting together. "He was dead. Outside of a trial, I've never seen anything like this."

"What does it mean?" Dwight asked, but he was half distracted Freddy's body. His mangled, dead body looking altogether too perfect except for where Evan had sliced him up. "Wait. Look at this." He said it forgetting she couldn't see him at all. "Oh. Right. Nevermind."

Claudette shook her head. "No, I can see him. Somehow." She grimaced.

"I don't understand."

"Neither do I," Claudette said, and Dwight knew she was genuinely upset about this even though she didn't say anything. But they had more important things to deal with at the moment than that mystery.

Dwight touched Claudette's arm and jerked his head toward the woods. As they passed Herman and Sally leaning on each other and got closer to the familiar greenage, she pulled up short and Dwight soon saw why. A rabbit was hidden among the grass there. He wouldn't have noticed if she hadn't pointed it out.

"I don't…"

"Me either."

They pressed on and as they passed between the trees Dwight noticed something else.

"Where is the mist?"

"I don't see any."

Their eyes met and as they did Dwight saw for the first time that her face was clean.

"Claudette," he said, the weight of all his burgeoning emotions in that one word. "You aren't bloody." Her eyes snapped down to her shirt and she lifted it wonderingly even as Dwight pulled her into a crushing embrace. "I don't think we're in the nightmare anymore."

Claudette's arms wrapped around him just as fiercely. "Look up."

They did, to find stars twinkling and bright in the clear night sky. The moon hung low over the treetops and as they stood in stunned silence an owl hooted.

"I've never been so happy in my life," Dwight said, and it was the truth. He leaned down to swallow Claudette's reply with his lips. They were gentle against his, as was the movement of her mouth. When they drew back they drank each other in with their eyes, communicating more effectively their feelings than any words could possibly convey.

As they stood silently holding each other, whole and healthy figures began to appear from the darkness. David, Meg, Nea, Quentin, now Laurie and Ace. Philip and Max came, appearing somewhat shorter in stature. Detective Tapp approached with Anna and Lisa. Evan cut a huge, solitary figure behind the rest.

"I couldn't tell you before," Lisa said, breaking the silence. "But there were only two down there and Philip and I got them out."

"Yes, and that is when we found The Entity's stalk. It's heart. It knew after we pried the old ones free. It sent all Its murderers after us. But we were ready." The man's lips curved into a grim smile even while triumph shone in his eyes.

Lisa sighed. "It saved Freddy for last and by then we had no choice but to bring him with us. I'm sorry."

"That's okay," Dwight said, to nods around the circle. "We managed." A hush hung in the air as everyone waited for him to speak again. "Was it Freddy all along?"

"Yes," Philip said. "I think so."

"We can't know that," Evan interjected.

"No, we can't," Herman said from behind Dwight, "but who gives a damn?" He turned to see Sally with Feng and Jake who were holding hands.

"I do," Jake said, "I want him dead. He's not coming back, is he?"

Feng squeezed his hand. "If he does we'll just have to fuck him up again. Don't worry."

"No," Sally said, "He's dead. They both are now."

"You too?" Dwight was confused by Lisa's question until Sally nodded.

"Yes. My powers are gone."

A chorus of agreement went around all the former killers, but it was Philip who spoke next.

"You see. It did not know us. It did not see us coming so we killed It. No more evil now."

Dwight soaked it all in and reflected over the fact that nothing had gone as they imagined or planned but that it had all worked out anyway, that it was all because of their bonds-so strong that they had each overlooked themselves for the good of the group. Even stronger evidence was in the fact that they had reclaimed their former allies from the despair of being killers. They couldn't have succeeded without them. It would have been a worthless endeavor doomed to failure.

"We wouldn't be here right now if not for everyone's part in this. Thank you, my friends." Dwight walked around the circle shaking everyone's hand and embracing them. It was both heartfelt and ceremonial at the same time. Everyone linked hands afterward and bowed their heads in a moment of silence for all the unknown people who had been drained like batteries by The Entity in the end. Then a collective cheer went up and they were all crying and embracing each other.

"Where are we?" Someone asked, but Dwight couldn't see who.

"Doesn't matter," Dwight said. "We're together."


End file.
